Kris Christmann | University College London (original) (raw)

Papers by Kris Christmann

British journal of community justice, 2016

This paper aims to answer the question: can the aspiration for increasing hate crime reporting co... more This paper aims to answer the question: can the aspiration for increasing hate crime reporting contained in the United Kingdom Government's action plan on hate crime (2016-2020) be achieved by local agencies in England and Wales? Drawing on findings from research into the barriers to hate crime reporting and research undertaken by the authors and colleagues in 2012 to 2013 in a county in England, this paper will examine the impact of victim decision making and the efficacy of third party hate crime reporting centres on hate crime reporting. It will propose two solutions to facilitate increased reporting in the UK and other jurisdictions: an end to end, criminal justice system, hate crime service framework to more effectively support victims; and a typology of reporting provision which will better enable commissioning agencies to assess the capability and capacity of hate crime services.

British journal of community justice, Dec 15, 2016

This paper aims to answer the question: can the aspiration for increasing hate crime reporting co... more This paper aims to answer the question: can the aspiration for increasing hate crime reporting contained in the United Kingdom Government's action plan on hate crime (2016-2020) be achieved by local agencies in England and Wales? Drawing on findings from research into the barriers to hate crime reporting and research undertaken by the authors and colleagues in 2012 to 2013 in a county in England, this paper will examine the impact of: victim decision making; and the efficacy of third party hate crime reporting centres on hate crime reporting. It will propose two solutions to facilitate increased reporting in the UK and other jurisdictions: an end to end, criminal justice system, hate crime service framework to more effectively support victims; and a typology of reporting provision which will better enable commissioning agencies to assess the capability and capacity of hate crime services.

British journal of community justice, 2017

This paper draws on previously unpublished data of a short-term prisoner resettlement initiative ... more This paper draws on previously unpublished data of a short-term prisoner resettlement initiative (Step-On) in two large prisons in the north of England in the United Kingdom (UK). A quasi-experimental design was used to compare a sample of 192 prisoners who underwent enhanced resettlement assistance with a matched sample of offenders who did not. The purpose was to examine whether the enhanced resettlement support across five ‘resettlement pathways’ led to lower levels of recidivism following release from prison. The analysis found that the experimental group with enhanced resettlement support was significantly less likely to reoffend compared with the matched control group, however, this positive effect only held during the ninety day post-release support period, after which there was no significant difference between groups. In addition to delayed re-offending, other benefits of the project saw a reduced severity of offence for those who did re-offend. These findings have policy and practice implications for the resourcing of resettlement provision in the UK and other jurisdictions

Routledge eBooks, Apr 27, 2017

Hate crime as an area of justice and social policy has a relatively recent history, although it's... more Hate crime as an area of justice and social policy has a relatively recent history, although it's not a new phenomenon. Drawing on evidence primarily from the United Kingdom and United States, this chapter examines four issues of particular salience to understanding hate crime victimization policy and practice: how hate crime is defined; how hate crime is measured; why victims under-report hate crime and how to encourage victims to report; and the effectiveness of services for hate crime victims. It concludes by offering a whole system model of support for hate crime victims that spans the victim's journey before, during and after the end of their engagement with the criminal justice system.

Probation Journal, Sep 1, 2011

This article reports on research conducted for the Youth Justice Board (YJB) which sought to esta... more This article reports on research conducted for the Youth Justice Board (YJB) which sought to establish the prevalence of racially motivated offending (RMO) amongst young people and the level of provision for such offenders. The paper examines trends in youth RMO over the period 2002-2007 and explores the characteristics of offenders; geographical trends of RMO and sanctioning outcomes. Analysis demonstrates that of those young people referred to youth offending service (YOS) teams for RMO, the vast majority were male and white. There was a noticeable 'North-South' split in RMO, with levels in the North generally higher than in the South and sanctions for racially motivated offences were more severe than for offences generally. The paper calls for further investigation into the legislation and practice around youth RMO.

Kris (2017) Community reporting thresholds : Sharing information with authorities concerning viol... more Kris (2017) Community reporting thresholds : Sharing information with authorities concerning violent extremist activity and involvement in foreign conflict: A UK replication study. Research Report. CREST (Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats).

Critical Studies on Terrorism, Aug 13, 2020

ABSTRACT To promote early intervention strategies, Countering/Preventing Violent Extremism (C/PVE... more ABSTRACT To promote early intervention strategies, Countering/Preventing Violent Extremism (C/PVE) policies internationally seek to encourage community reporting by “intimates” about someone close to them engaging in terrorist planning. Yet historically, we have scant evidence around what either helps or hinders “intimates” to share concerns with authorities. We address that deficit here through a “state of the art” assessment of what we currently know about effective related C/PVE approaches to community reporting, based on key findings from a ground-breaking Australian study and its UK replication. The consistency of qualitative findings from nearly 100 respondents offers new paradigms for policy and practice.

8 The original scale was tested on a range of faiths, including Muslims both in Canada and in Gha... more 8 The original scale was tested on a range of faiths, including Muslims both in Canada and in Ghana, with convincing results. Validation of the scale with a sample of Muslims in Ghana (Hunsberger, Owusu, and Duck, 1999) found that the fundamentalism measure posted an alpha of .87 and correlated .78 with hostility toward homosexuals; and rendered strong associations with right-wing authoritarianism (.62 to .82) (Altemeyer and Hunsberger, 2004:49). 9 Strictly speaking, the VERA tool is not a formal test or scale that produces a 'risk score' but rather what Pressman calls a "structured professional judgement tool" to aid professional assessments of violent extremism.

Willan eBooks, Sep 25, 2017

Much of the academic, practitioner and voluntary sector interest in victims of hate crime have fo... more Much of the academic, practitioner and voluntary sector interest in victims of hate crime have focused upon the impacts of hate crime and the practical and emotional support needs and services for victims. Our own work has been somewhat divergent from this. We were commissioned to identify how hate crime reporting could be improved in a northern town, and made inclusive across different equality groups. We undertook a small scale study that examined individual decision making by hate crime victims in whether or not to report incidents, and how the available reporting arrangements and associated publicity materials affected these decisions (Wong & Christmann, 2008). Somewhat to our surprise, what appeared to be a critical issue in terms of whether or not hate crime policies were likely to succeed was also a much under researched area. Whilst our own research findings cannot be generalised beyond the study site, it did allow us to test out and consider more thoroughly some of the assumptions implicit in policy developments around hate crime reporting, specifically the policy goal of full reporting. We want to reflect back on these findings and the broader research literature to pose some questions on the adequacy and utility of the current reporting agencies approaches and the general policy direction to hate crime victims. We believe this has merit because the statutory criminal justice agencies and the voluntary sector are grappling with the challenges of adopting hate crime in its broadest sense, and providing a responsive, effective and victim centred service across markedly different vulnerable groups. Pertinent questions can be asked about what the current policies on hate crime can be expected to achieve given the nature of victim decision making on the critical issue of whether to report their victimisation. We will draw out some implications that the legacy of the Lawrence Inquiry has had for strategic thinking, policy making and make some tentative suggestions on how these might be improved. We argue something that may be considered heresy among hate crime victimloogy circles and victim campaigning groups; that the current policy message concerning victim reporting does not reflect reality, and risks being discredited. What is required, some 10 years post Lawrence is more nuanced responses and ones which acknowledge: the distance travelled by criminal justice agencies in the intervening years; that the majority of hate crime is manifested as single incidents of harassment (which may not necessarily constitute crimes); and the unlikelihood of full reporting by the public, which realistically fits where the public are in terms of their expectations. In doing so we do not pretend to have any authoritative answers to these issues, but believe the questions are worth posing to prompt a debate between efficacy of response versus a largely unchallenged view of hate crime victimology.

Safer Communities, Apr 1, 2008

This study tests assumptions implicit in many of the policy developments around hate crime report... more This study tests assumptions implicit in many of the policy developments around hate crime reporting that concern the social context and some of the psychological processes behind decisionmaking on victim reporting. Results suggest that official concern over reporting all hate crimes for service planning requirements is not shared by the overwhelming majority of respondents and would not be feasible to deliver. If reporting is to be increased it needs to deliver a more tangible and personally experienced outcome for the individual.

for a specific licence to be granted. www.yjb.gov.uk Undertaking this study required the cooperat... more for a specific licence to be granted. www.yjb.gov.uk Undertaking this study required the cooperation of large numbers of people across the youth justice system. Firstly, a number of individuals at the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) have been instrumental to the smooth running of this project. Nisha Patel and Tamara Walker helped in the overall organisation, and we are also grateful to Margaret McGeehan and Julian Cullinan for providing us with timely Themis data. Secondly, the high response rate to the survey is largely thanks to the understanding and cooperation we received from the managers and staff at the youth offending teams (YOTs) and secure establishments surveyed, and we are very grateful for their help with this aspect of the research. Finally, we appreciate the assistance we received from practitioners and young people at the YOTs and secure establishments we visited.

the majority of NDC areas have targets to reduce fear of crime. This is not surprising given fear... more the majority of NDC areas have targets to reduce fear of crime. This is not surprising given fear of crimes current status on the policy agenda and the high levels of fear and worry about crime reported in the NDC Household Survey · this report challenges the centrality of crime fear in shaping individuals’ perceptions of the quality of their lives

Child and family law quarterly, 2003

Gallagher, Bernard, Christmann, Kris, Fraser, Claire and Hodgson, Beth ... International and inte... more Gallagher, Bernard, Christmann, Kris, Fraser, Claire and Hodgson, Beth ... International and internet child sexual abuse and exploitation - issues emerging from research ... Gallagher, Bernard, Christmann, Kris, Fraser, Claire and Hodgson, Beth (2003) International and ...

Social Science Research Network, Mar 29, 2012

British journal of community justice, 2016

British journal of community justice, Dec 15, 2016

This paper aims to answer the question: can the aspiration for increasing hate crime reporting co... more This paper aims to answer the question: can the aspiration for increasing hate crime reporting contained in the United Kingdom Government's action plan on hate crime (2016-2020) be achieved by local agencies in England and Wales? Drawing on findings from research into the barriers to hate crime reporting and research undertaken by the authors and colleagues in 2012 to 2013 in a county in England, this paper will examine the impact of: victim decision making; and the efficacy of third party hate crime reporting centres on hate crime reporting. It will propose two solutions to facilitate increased reporting in the UK and other jurisdictions: an end to end, criminal justice system, hate crime service framework to more effectively support victims; and a typology of reporting provision which will better enable commissioning agencies to assess the capability and capacity of hate crime services.

British journal of community justice, 2017

Routledge eBooks, Apr 27, 2017

Probation Journal, Sep 1, 2011

Critical Studies on Terrorism, Aug 13, 2020

Willan eBooks, Sep 25, 2017

Safer Communities, Apr 1, 2008

Child and family law quarterly, 2003

Social Science Research Network, Mar 29, 2012

The frst people to suspect or know about someone becoming involved in planning acts of violent ex... more The frst people to suspect or know about someone becoming involved in planning acts of violent extremism, including planned or actual involvement in overseas conﬂicts, will often be those closest to them: their friends, family and community insiders.Such individuals are ideally placed to notice any changes or early warning signs that someone is considering violent action to harm others, as well as being able to inﬂuence vulnerable younger people away from violent extremist beliefs and settings. The willingness of those close to potential or suspected violent actors to come forward and share their knowledge and concerns with authorities is thus a critical element in eﬀorts to prevent violent extremist action. However, whilst these ‘intimates’ have a vital role to play against potential terrorist threats and oﬀer a frst line of defence, very little is known about what reporting of the potential violent extremist involvement of an ‘intimate’ means for community members, particularly their views, experiences and concerns about approaching authorities, especially the police, when they have suspicions or knowledge to report.

Oliver Robertson, Kris Christmann, Kathryn Sharratt, Anne H. Berman, Martin Manby, Elizabeth Ayre... more Oliver Robertson, Kris Christmann, Kathryn Sharratt, Anne H. Berman, Martin
Manby, Elizabeth Ayre, Liliana Foca, Romeo Asiminei, Kate Philbrick and
Cristina Gavriluta.

Studies suggest that maintaining family ties can help reduce the likelihood of reoffending, and that while parental imprisonment can increase a child’s likelihood to offend, positive responses to the situation can aid the children’s well-being, attitude and attainment. Drawing on findings from the recently completed EU-funded COPING Project on the mental health of children of prisoners, this chapter explores the factors that aid a child’s ability to cope with parental imprisonment and the actions that different stakeholders can take to support them. It identifies some of the mental health impacts at different stages of parental imprisonment, the roles played by non-imprisoned parents/carers and by schools, and suggests options for further clarifying the factors that help and hinder children of prisoners in the short and long term