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We have an established international reputation for theoretically informed, policy focused, methodologically rigorous interdisciplinary research.

Aims

We are a joint venture drawing together colleagues from the School of Social Sciences (mainly those with an interest in criminology) and the School of Law and Politics (mainly those with an interest in criminal justice and security studies).

We hold regular workshops, seminars and feedback groups throughout the academic year. We have a broad research programme, with members actively exploring a range of topics around the relations between crime, security and justice.

Key areas of research interest include:

  • urban security and community safety
  • sexual and domestic violence and hate crime
  • corporate and white-collar crime
  • organised crime and terrorism
  • criminal law and criminal justice process
  • youth justice
  • policing
  • night-time economy
  • drug policy
  • life-course criminology and desistance
  • prisoner resettlement and offender management
  • emergent technologies and crime including cyber crime.

We have established links at the local, national and international level. Members work in collaboration with local authorities, third sector agencies, the Welsh Government, Home Office and Ministry of Justice, as well as a number of European agencies.

In particular, we are working with the Cardiff Safer and Cohesive Communities Board, through which access to data and research sites will be facilitated in exchange for research by staff and students.

Early projects are exploring the development of local victim surveys as well as research on sexual health, the night time economy, and issues around migration, immigration and asylum.

The Centre is directed by Dr Fred Cram (LAWPL) and Dr Rachel Swann (SOCSI).

Find us on Twitter at @Cardiff_CCLJ or view our profile on ResearchGate.

Meet the team

Academic staff

Events

Past Events

Workshop: expressions of remorse and apology in criminal justice

On the 27 and 28 of September 2018, the Cardiff Centre for Crime, Law and Justice will jointly host a workshop with Cardiff’s Centre of Law and Society.

Organised by Stewart Field (LAWPL) and Cyrus Tata (University of Strathclyde), the workshop will bring together an international group of experts to examine the expression of remorse and apology in criminal justice and how this affects judgements about defendants.

Drawing on empirical studies of a range of jurisdictions and procedural contexts, this workshop will examine the various ways in which cultural expectations shape the construction of the 'ideal defendant' and his or her role in court-room, pre-trial and trial settings.

Speakers included:

  • Susan Bandes (DePaul University)
  • Jackie Hodgson (Warwick University)
  • Nicky Padfied (Cambridge University)
  • Sharyn Roach Anleu (Flinders University, Australia)
  • Kate Rossmanith (Macquarie University, Australia)
  • Richard Weisman (York University, Canada)

Seminar with scholars from the Criminology Research Centre, Ryukoku University, Japan

On 23 March 2018, Dr Akiko Kugawara and Professor Shinichi Ishizuka from the Criminology Research Centre at Ryukoku University in Japan joined the Cardiff Centre for Crime, Law and Justice at a seminar to discuss common interests and possible research links.

The visit was organised by Professor Trevor Jones in collaboration with Dr David Brewster and was funded by a Daiwa Foundation grant.

A return visit from Cardiff to Kyoto is also planned. Full details of the seminar can be found below:

Topic

Speaker

The Significance of Ryukoku University's Criminology Research Centre in the Context of the Crime Situation in Japan

Dr. Kogawara, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law,
Ryukoku University.

Dr Kogawara's research addresses two topics: the legal effects of the victim’s consent in bodily harm and murder cases; and the medical treatments of
death-row or lifetime prisoners.

Life imprisonment in Japan

Prof. Dr. Shinichi Ishizuka, Professor, Faculty of Law and
Director of the Criminology Research Centre (CrimRC),
Ryukoku University and President of the Japanese Association
of Sociological Criminology.

Prof. Dr. Ishizuka has carried out research on prisoners’ rights,
the politics of criminal law in Japan and in Germany, the death penalty and life imprisonment, and drug policy.

The Strategies and Techniques of Drug Abuse Control in Japan

Dr. David Brewster, Postdoctoral Researcher, Criminology
Research Centre (CrimRC), Ryukoku University.

Dr. Brewster studied Criminology at Cardiff University between
2007 and 2016. His PhD, entitled Comparing Cannabis Control
in England & Wales and The Netherlands, analysed the
policy-making processes in these countries.

Security and Justice: the challenge of the transnational

In 2017 the Centre for Crime, Law and Justice worked with Cardiff’s Centre of Law and Society to organise a series of workshops that brought together criminologists, political scientists and lawyers to address the relationship between security and justice in a world shaped by globalization and Europeanisation.

The four workshops brought together small groups of leading scholars and practitioners to reflect upon related challenges.

The first workshop has resulted in a Special Issue Supplement to be published by the Journal of Law and Society under the title ‘Learning from Elsewhere’. The final workshop will be published as a Special Issue by the journal Policing and Society.

Date

Topic

May 2017

Best practice in security and justice: from cross-cultural explanation to
transnational prescription?

June 2017

Transnational Criminal Justice and International Institutions: The Law and
Politics of Building and Dismantling Transnational Cooperation.

October 2017

The Theory and Practice of Financial Crime Risk Assessments: Challenges
for Contemporary Governance.

Nov 2017

Emergent Technologies: The Transnational Challenge to Security and
Justice

Research seminars

Research seminars are held every three weeks during the academic year, providing a supportive environment for doctoral students and academic staff to present and constructively discuss their work.

Further seminars are run in partnership with the Welsh branch of the British Society of Criminology and additional social and strategic events are hosted throughout the year.

Below is the seminar programme for 2022-2023.

Date and timeVenueSpeaker

12/09/2022

16:00-17.00

Committee Room 2, Glamorgan Building

David Brewster (Kanazawa College of Art, Japan)

Illegal Drug Policy in Japan: Researching Practitioner Perspectives

12/10/2022

16:00-17:00

Law building RM: 1.30

Nic Ryder (Cardiff University)

Higher Education Institutions and Money Laundering: preliminary findings

02/11/2022

13:00-14:00

Zoom:

Tami Sullivan (Yale University)

Using micro-longitudinal designs/methodologies to measure intimate partner violence, elder abuse, and substance abuse

Join Zoom Meeting

https://cardiff.zoom.us/j/86877877763?pwd=S1FaRC9DMmJuRFBzbjZaUmI3cVI2QT09

07/12/2022

13:00-15:00

Committee Room 2, Glamorgan Building

Gordon Hughes (Cardiff University)

Crime, Violence and Modernity

Past seminar series (2021-2022)

Date/Time

Venue

Speaker

October

Zoom

Mike Levi (Cardiff University)

Regulating the legal profession for fraud and money laundering 

October

Zoom

Danielle O'Shea (Cardiff University)

How Welsh Universities can ensure the safety of student sex workers

November

Zoom

Adam Edwards (Cardiff University) Cardiff/Swansea/USW - PGR research design seminar

December

Zoom

Peter Squires (University of Brighton)

Rethinking Knife Crime: Policing, Violence and Moral Panic?

February

Zoom

Jonathan Gilbert (Cardiff University)

The organisation of mortgage fraud and its relationship to the governance, control and regulation of financial services

March

Zoom

Camilla de Camargo (Lancaster University)

The weaponising of Covid-19: contamination prevention and the use of spit hoods in UK policing. 

April

Zoom

Greg Martin (University of Sidney)

Protest, policing and law during COVID-19 

April

Zoom

Melissa Mendez (Cardiff University)

Windrush as State Crime: The UK Government’s hostility towards racially minoritized populations.

Next steps

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