Cardiff Centre for Crime, Law and Justice

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.

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:

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.

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.

Past seminar series (2021-2022)