Community empowerment approaches

Why read this evidence review?

This evidence review provides an in-depth look at growing rates of racial disparity in our criminal justice system and highlights key principles for effective interventions with people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in contact with the system.

Patrick Williams, Senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, reviews the current evidence-base - to which he is an important contributor - and covers a number of key issues:

• Racial disparity within the criminal justice system
• The multidimensionality of social inequalities experienced by minority groups
• The lack of a clear strategy and officially approved programs to tackle racial disparity in the criminal justice system
• The criminal justice system’s preoccupation with risk as opposed to need
• Principles to govern minority ethnic interventions
• The importance of acknowledging racialisation and racism(s)
• Community empowerment models
• The argument for paying participants to engage
• The importance of the voluntary sector.

An online evidence base for the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system

This article forms part of a series from Clinks, created to develop a far-reaching and accessible evidence base covering the most common types of activity undertaken within the criminal justice system. There are two main aims of this online series:

1. To increase the extent to which the voluntary sector bases its services on the available evidence base
2. To encourage commissioners to award contracts to organisations delivering an evidence-based approach.

Each article has been written by a leading academic with particular expertise on the topic in question. The topics are selected by Clinks’ members as areas of priority interest. Clinks intends to build a comprehensive directory of the best evidence available across a wide range of criminal justice topics within the next three years (2020-2023). The online evidence base is co-ordinated by Russell Webster on behalf of Clinks.

Click here to find out more about the Evidence library.

Want to find out more about this topic?

Part of the 'A matter of fact: what the evidence tells us' series, to accompany our Evidence library, Clinks is giving you the chance to hear from the experts themselves. Dr Patrick Williams presented the latest evidence on community empowerment approaches, including evidence of growing rates of racial disparity in the criminal justice system and key principles for effective interventions with racially minoritised people in contact with the criminal justice system in November 2021.

Watch the video recording below: