The Challenges of Researching Multiple Needs in the Criminal Justice System Julian Corner

The litmus test “Using the experiences of the ‘bottom 10%’ as a litmus-test of reform across Government” Sustainable Communities: ODPM, 2004

Multiple needs/ criminal justice Homelessness Long term physical conditions Hazardous drinking Learning Disability Anxiety/Depression/ Personality Disorder Debt/poverty Drug use Social isolation/ family breakdown Poor skill base OFFENDING

Social Exclusion Task Force “Individual agencies … often miss those who have multiple needs but need less help from any one service… Their contact with services is instead frequently driven by problematic behaviour resulting from their chaotic lives, such as anti-social behaviour, criminality and poor parenting - and management revolves around sanctions such as prison, loss of tenancy and possible removal of children”. Reaching Out: An Action Plan for Social Exclusion, 2006

To a man with a hammer … Rough sleeper Substance user Mentally disordered offender Street drinker Defendant Ex-offender Prolific and Priority Offender Arrestee Anti-Social Neighbour Prisoner Single homeless person Socially excluded adult Chaotic adult Dual diagnosed Personality disordered Sex Worker Patient

Complexity Interrelation of problems Multi-dimensional problems vs. 2D snapshots Needs as product of system Who defines the problem/need?

Limitations of perspective Where you start determines where you end up Fragmentation Institutionalised evidence Reaching beyond the system

Chaos and complexity Difficulty dealing with paperwork Difficulty managing money No qualifications Feels close to neither a co-habiting adult nor any other adult Fewer than two close friends and not spoken to one in past week Unemployed Moved 3+ times in past year Lowest personal income group Justine Schneider, Better Outcomes for the Most Excluded, 2007

Abuses of evidence What worked The policy trap The end of judgement Evidence as a structure of exclusion The paths of least resistance

Limitations of the outcome- based approach Legitimising negligible steps The silver bullet illusion All that glitters … Capturing experience and soft outcomes

Institutional Divides VCO experience Professionalised evidence People as functions of the system

Commissioning - a new research dawn? Bridging divides Prompting problem-solving and imagination Capturing lived experience Providing a sense of scale and perspective Seeing the whole person

National Development Programme Identification of need Demonstration of solutions Shaping/Influencing policy

National Development Programme Research Development Evidence that is multi-agency and locally-owned Action research Creating new platforms for ‘voice’ Warrington example