Policy and law
creation and review
The University of Nottingham expertise
Clear, accessible and effective guidance and legislation are essential to the fair functioning of criminal justice organisations. They are also critical to delivering a service that is focused both on the needs of its users and open to public scrutiny.
Research conducted at The University of Nottingham has a major impact on national and international processes of policy and law review and oversight.
Our experts are skilled drafters, and can offer guidance and advice to organisations across the whole criminal justice sector.
Key research expertise includes:
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Local, national and international review and evaluation of policies and priorities of all criminal justice organisations
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National and international drafting and advising on law creation
Case studies
Northern Ireland criminal justice policy
Professor John Jackson is both a Parole Commissioner and a Sentence Review Commissioner in Northern Ireland...
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These bodies determine whether prisoners in Northern Ireland are safe to release into the community.
He was a member of the Criminal Justice Review which in 2000 recommended that there should be an independent body similar to the Parole Board in England and Wales to determine when prisoners serving indeterminate sentences should be released into the community once they have served a minimum period set by a judge.
He became a Life Sentence Review Commissioner in 2003 and advised on policy issues when this body became the Parole Commissioners for Northern Ireland in 2009. As a legally qualified commissioner, he continues to advise the Commissioners on legal and policy issues relating to their work. The Sentence Review Commissioners deal specifically with terrorist offenders who have a right to early release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement if they no longer support the paramilitary organisations they once belonged to.
Professor Jackson became a member of this body in 2012 and has been advising the Commissioners on legal and policy issues since then collaborating with police firearms and training units to develop the simulation models.
Shaping international and regional penal law, policy and practice
Comparative research conducted by Professor Dirk van Zyl Smit and Dr Róisín Mulgrew has focused on the implementation of punishment worldwide...
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Their research has had significant impact internationally and regionally in shaping law and policy relating to:
- the implementation of imprisonment, including life imprisonment
- sanctions for young offenders
- the transfer and treatment of foreign and international prisoners
This research has underpinned the creation and development of prison law and policy in nation states such as Bangladesh, Malawi and Malaysia, international and regional organisations including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Council of Europe. It has also impacted on the judgments and policies of the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court.
In addition, Professor van Zyl Smit has acted as an independent expert on the revised UN Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules, 2015) and, together with Dr Mulgrew, has authored the UN Handbook on the International Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners (2013). Dr Mulgrew has worked with EUROPRIS and the Council of Europe on practical measures to improve the treatment of foreign prisoners.