Research bulletin showcases the crime and justice insights revealed by administrative data

Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Data First has published a research bulletin summarising the insights from research carried out using justice system datasets. Including priority policy themes of ethnic disparities in the justice system, youth offending and repeat offenders, it offers those working in criminal justice policy and practice, a concise reference of the key findings published to date.

Since Data First began in 2019, MoJ has linked and shared eight justice datasets joining cases and people across the criminal, civil and family courts, and prison and probation services. Data First has also released a flagship data-share with the Department for Education. All this linked data is creating opportunities for novel analysis to improve our understanding of justice system users and ‘what works’ to improve their outcomes.

The bulletin demonstrates what can be achieved when government works in partnership with academia. In addition to Data First, ADR UK is also funding research fellowships to carry out early pathfinder research using the datasets. The bulletin summarises the new insights from these fellowships, other academic research and cross-government publications.

The bulletin states: “Data First reflects the commitment of MoJ to working in partnership with independent expert academics, including via ADR UK funded Fellowships, to deliver innovative new research for policy and practice. To date, the programme has facilitated around 40 projects that align with the department’s strategic evidence priorities as set out in the MoJ Areas of Research Interest (ARI; 2020).”

Data First plans to update the research bulletin periodically as further research becomes available.

Read the Data First Research Bulletin on the Data First GOV. page.