Research

 

You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.

Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
 

Books: Research

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The Circles of Analysis
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Traffickers are ever more sophisticated in their recruitment and control of victims, their seizure of new opportunities and ability to adapt to changing social conditions and efforts to prevent the trade in human beings.

This book presents a unique model to assist professionals, researchers and policy makers by providing a new theory that describes and explains how patterns of trafficking and exploitation emerge and are sustained over time.

It critically evaluates the international development of current legal, policy and practice developments in the field of anti-trafficking and argues that these are based on overly simplistic and reductive analyses of the problem. As such they are inadequate in addressing the complex, non-linear and adaptive nature of the phenomenon.

Focusing on factors that influence the relationships and interactions between the victim, offender and environment, this innovative model equips professionals to consider prevention, protection, intervention and disruption activity rather than limiting action to criminal justice-related outcomes.

Each point is illustrated with case study examples from the author’s own practice experience and research and from the work of his colleagues involved in investigating, disrupting and prosecuting traffickers and identifying and supporting victims towards safety and recovery.

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Policy, politics and practice in the UK

Modern slavery, in the form of labour exploitation, domestic servitude, sexual trafficking, child labour and cannabis farming, is still growing in the UK and industrialised countries, despite the introduction of laws to try to stem it.

This hugely topical book, by a team of high-profile activists and expert writers, is the first to critically assess the legislation, using evidence from across the field, and to offer strategies for improvement in policy and practice. It argues that, contrary to its claims to be ‘world-leading’, the Modern Slavery Act is inconsistent, inadequate and punitive; and that the UK government, through its labour market and immigration policies, is actually creating the conditions for slavery to be promoted.

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Assessing the impact of reform
Authors: and

Originally introduced as a form of social welfare with near-universal eligibility, legal aid in the UK is now framed as a benefit external to the legal system and understood in primarily economic terms. This book is the first to evaluate the recent reforms of UK legal aid from a social policy perspective and assess their impact on family law courts and advocacy.

Written by experts in the field, it focuses on the rise in people representing their own legal case and argues that the reforms effectively ‘delawyerise’ disputes, producing a more inquisitorial justice system and impacting the litigants, court system, staff and process.

Arguing for a more holistic concept of the reforms, the book will be of relevance to students, academics, policy-makers, judges, campaigners and social workers, not just in England and Wales, but in other jurisdictions instituting cuts to their legal aid budgets, such as Australia, Scotland, France, and the Netherlands.

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Reflections on challenging times for advice agencies
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Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence.

In a world dominated by austerity politics and policies, Advising in austerity provides a lively and thought-provoking account of the conditions, consequences and challenges of advice work in the UK, presenting a rare and rich view of the world of advice giving. Based on original research it examines how advisors negotiate the private troubles of those who come to Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) and construct ways forward. Exploring how advisors are trained, the strong contributor team reflect on the challenges facing Citizens Advice Bureaux in the future, where austerity will ensure that the need for advice services increase, while funding for such services declines.

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Events of 2015

The human rights records of more than 90 countries and territories is put into perspective in Human Rights Watch’s signature yearly report. This volume highlights the armed conflict in Syria, international drug reform, drones and electronic mass surveillance, and also features photo essays of child marriage in South Sudan, the cost of the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia, and religious fighting in Central African Republic.

Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken in 2015 by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report 2016 is an invaluable resource for journalists, researchers, students, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.

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Events of 2014

CUSTOMERS IN NORTH AMERICA: COPIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM WWW.SEVENSTORIES.COM

The 25th annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than ninety countries and territories worldwide, reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken in 2014 by Human Rights Watch staff in close partnership with domestic rights activists. The World Report 2015 focuses in particular on the roles--positive or negative--played in each country by key domestic and international figures. Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth’s introduction addresses the tumultuous events of the past year, and describes inattention to human rights as an aggravating factor in the rise of brutal non-state actors such as ISIS and Boko Haram. Other essays focus on the strangulation of civil society by both repressive and so-called democratic countries; the need to keep surveillance on the human rights agenda; the alarming rise of explosive weapons in populated areas; and human rights abuses linked to mega-sporting events.

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Events of 2012

Human Rights Watch's twenty-third annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. An invaluable and respected resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, the book includes essays that tackle major human rights themes, and country chapters addressing key human rights abuses and the roles –positive or negative – that significant domestic and international figures played during the year. It reflects extensive investigative work by Human Rights Watch staff, often in close partnership with domestic activists.

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Successive governments have promised to reform criminal justice in England and Wales and to make it more efficient and more effective in preventing and reducing crime. And yet there is still a feeling that not enough has been achieved and more has to be done - a feeling that the English riots in August 2011 painfully revived. Where Next for Criminal Justice? offers a principled framework for the development of policy, legislation and practice, and argues with examples for an approach to criminal justice which acknowledges the limitations on what governments and reforms of criminal justice can achieve on their own, and where the focus is on promoting procedural justice and legitimacy; fostering human decency and civility; and enabling prevention, restoration and desistance from crime.

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