NHS-led Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion (CJLD) schemes operate within police partnerships and rely on inter-professional practice between teams of ‘Mental Health Practitioners’ and police custody staff - Custody or ‘Desk’ Sergeants and Detention officers - to identify and assess detainees with ‘vulnerabilities’(National Health Service England, 2019).
This analysis of ethnographic data collected from observing custody practice suggests that CJLD policy is shaped by the street-level bureaucracy (Lipsky, 2010) of police custody staff who use their discretion for all practice within this shared space. The analysis found an operational discourse of risk, where a risk dispositif (Foucault, 1980), orientates action in the custody suite.
Police custody staff recognise the identification of mental illness by CJLD practitioners as a key risk factor in detainee self-harm or suicide, either during the period of detention or post-release, when officers can be held accountable for death in or following police custody. Police custody staff position CJLD practitioners to respond to psychological distress in detainees with an understanding that they will observe and monitor them. CJLD engagement with detainees, either a custody-based assessment or follow-up with ‘vulnerable’ individuals in the community, is seen to mitigate risks. The research found that CJLD practitioners were typically acquiescent to police requests to check detainee’s medical records and despite limited resources, prioritised the monitoring and recording of detainees’ psychological well-being in custody and in the community following their discharge.
Evidence of police officer-led street-level bureaucracy in this discretionary space shows that the risk of detainee suicide or self- harm, ultimately perceived as a threat to professional reputations, is mitigated by interprofessional practice in this partnership. The analysis raises questions about the aim and purpose of the CJLD and of police custody.

This paper critically examines the current utilization of solitary confinement in the criminal justice system, aiming to align policies with the MENDEZ principles—an established framework safeguarding human rights in such contexts. The primary research question focuses on assessing the psychological impact of solitary confinement and evaluating its adherence to MENDEZ principles concerning mental and physical health. The study employs a comprehensive methodology encompassing literature review, analysis of international and national legal frameworks, and case studies of successful reforms worldwide.

The main objective is to identify deficiencies in current solitary confinement policies and provide policy recommendations that enhance adherence to MENDEZ principles while maintaining security in correctional facilities. Through collaborative efforts with researchers and practitioners, the project seeks to raise awareness and foster collaboration with stakeholders, contributing to a collective effort in reshaping solitary confinement policies globally. The intended output includes a comprehensive white paper containing policy recommendations for dissemination to policymakers at national and international levels.
The expected results include insights into the reasons behind solitary confinement, its implications on individual human rights, and the mental health of inmates. Furthermore, the analysis aims to highlight areas for improvement in solitary confinement policies by drawing from successful case studies worldwide. Overall, this research endeavours to contribute meaningfully to ongoing discussions on the ethical treatment of inmates, human rights, and the imperative need for reform in the criminal justice system.

The current study has two primary objectives. The first objective is to provide current and detailed information on the risk and predictive factors of substance use and mental health among a sample of older youth preparing to emancipate from the child welfare system. A number of significant policies have been passed over the past few years that may have impacted the health and well-being among youth in-care. This study will extend prior research by providing more current findings on the extent of substance use and mental health issues among youth in-care and investigate if disparities continue to exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in-care. The second objective of this study is to identify factors that promote resiliency among these youth. There are a diverse range of factors beyond the individual level that must be considered when investigating resiliency among this population. Due to prior traumas, the factors that foster resilience among youth in-care differ from individual to individual. Youth in-care interact with multiple environments such as the placement, school, and community, and these environments interact with one another to influence outcomes among this youth.

This research will draw on data from the 2022 Ontario Looking After Children project, which covers a number of outcomes for each youth in areas such as health, education, identity, family and social relationships, emotional and behavioral development, and independent living skills. The OnLAC dataset also contains a number of variables which can be used to test a number of theoretical frameworks that will guide this research study. These theories include social control theory, general strain theory, and social dislocation theory which argues the fundamental cause of substance use and abuse is rooted in societal arrangements.

Emma D Watkins (AHRC Fellow) University of Birmingham and Buxi Duan University of Birmingham

Institutional Abuse: Reformatory Schools and the Use of Physical Force.

Understanding how offending children in the first government-run youth institutions were disciplined, and how that was framed by the institution, and responded to outside of it, allows us to question contemporary ideas and practices. Exploring the deep historical roots of such practices will enable new lines of enquiry to begin to challenge the way ‘we’ think about ‘offending’ juveniles. This historical criminological project will investigate the use of physical force in disciplining and controlling institutionalised offending children within reformatory schools. This research will also uncover how institutions justified the use/extent of physical force used, and how the views were reflected, or differed, at the political and public level. This will be done by consulting regional reformatory records (institutional level), parliamentary reports (political level), and newspapers (public level). The period under study is 1854-1933. This is because Reformatory schools were certified by government legislation at this time; these were the first government-run youth institutions in England and Wales and set a precedent for confining children and young people in separate specialised institutions. The reformatories were later merged with Industrial Schools to form Approved Schools in 1932. This will be taken as the logical end point for the comparative study of three reformatory schools.