Ethnicity and justice - academic management: research mapping

Annex 4: Current research projects

Two respondents mentioned the same project, “Understanding Inequalities” in varying degrees of detail, so the project has been included twice in the table, capturing what each respondent said about it, but it is only counted as one project.

Table 4: Current Research: listed alphabetically by research title

COST Action: POLSTOPS - pan-EU group aimed at identifying gaps in research on policing stop and search (current). Funder: EU-COST; publications due 2021/22.

Respondent’s Institution

University of Strathclyde

Topics covered

• Police
• Civil Justice

Permission to re-contact?

No

Encountering policing - a qualitative exploration of Scottish Pakistanis' experience of policing. (Carnegie Trust funded PhD Scholarship)

The events of 9/11 and 7/7 have contributed to an increase in security concerns regarding British-Asians demonstrated through targeted policies such as Prevent and apparent in uneven use of security procedures such as ‘stop and search’. This is theorised as resulting in relationships of mistrust between British-Asian communities and police and to increasing incidents of hate crime against them.

Scotland is often portrayed as an exception to racialized policies through its political promotion as an inclusive society that embraces minority communities within a civic, rather than ethnic, nationalism. Yet, while Scotland as an ‘inclusive society’ may be invoked discursively and at policy level (Meer, 2019), the designation of national security as a reserved matter means that both historical and current experiences of S&S under reserved counter-terrorism legislation (e.g. Terrorism Act, 2000) remain a concern for Scottish minorities (Bonino, 2019). There is also evidence of growing instances of racist attacks of both new and settled immigrants, with approximately 70% of reported hate crimes in Scotland racially based, and this has increased during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Thus minority Scottish citizens are positioned between two dominant but contradictory discourses; included within the context of Scottish civic nationalism, yet ‘othered’ as part of an imagined suspect community both through counter-terrorism legislation and through public prejudice 'permeating Scottish Society.

Thus there is a need for an exploration of multi-level policing of Scottish Pakistanis. This project will draw on a Foucauldian concept of ‘policing’ - theorising the extension of disciplinary power as a process of individual and community self-inspection, self-surveillance, and self-policing. This includes policing; by authorities through racialised policies and discriminatory use of police procedures e.g. stop and check; by members of the public through islamophobia and race related hate crimes; and by Scottish-Pakistanis themselves through self-surveillance and cultural ‘community’ policing.

Respondent’s Institution

Edinburgh Napier University, School of Social Sciences

Topics covered

• Experience of crime and feelings of safety
• Police

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

Experiences of and resistance to state racism in Scotland.

Respondent’s Institution

University of Glasgow, School of social and political sciences,

Topics covered

• Experience of crime and feelings of safety
• Police

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

Experiences of discrimination based on race amongst missing people and their families: an exploratory, qualitative study into the experiences of discrimination in response to someone being reported missing, either due to the race or ethnicity of the missing person or their family. In-depth interviews and focus groups, with a therapeutic support approach. This work is not currently funded. Work has begun and we aim to publish findings in summer 2021.

Respondent’s Institution

Missing People charity

Topics covered

• Experience of crime and feelings of safety
• Police

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

How and why hate crime occurs: exploring the accounts of those convicted of hate crime in Scotland (thesis working title) - Current PhD research on hate crime. It is fully funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The focus is to interview individuals convicted of hate crime who are currently serving a community order or custodial sentence for an index offence with one of the five current aggravators (race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, and disability). I am at the data collection stage (this was interrupted due to the pandemic). No findings have been published yet.

Respondent’s Institution

University of Edinburgh - School of Social and Political Science (Social Work)

Topics covered

• Re-offending, re-imprisonment
• Experience of crime and feelings of safety – (hate crime)
• Who – those with a conviction

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

Measuring Justice: Defining Concepts, Developing Practice (Scottish Govt funded): assessing and synthesising evidence on experiences of (criminal) justice, noting vast majority of research focuses on victim experiences, and most of this does not specifically attend to ethnic minority experiences; in Scotland this is even more the case.

Respondent’s Institution

SCCJR

Topics covered

• Experience of crime and feelings of safety
• Courts
• Custodial sentences
• Other: victim/witness experiences

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

Perceptions of safety by marginalised groups Current research by SCSN and MainSt Consulting. Research will be published w/b 10th May.

(Publication found: Community Safety for groups with protected characteristics. SCSN Project 4 report 20210512 (safercommunitiesscotland.org)

Respondent’s Institution

Scottish Community Safety Network

Topics covered

• Experience of crime and feelings of safety
• Police
• Courts

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

POLACS - international project investigating police oversight. Core partners are: France; Germany; UK; Canada; Japan. UK Funder: ESRC (ORA). Current. Publications due 2022.

Respondent’s Institution

University of Strathclyde

Topics covered

• Police
• Civil Justice

Permission to re-contact?

No

Policing the Pandemic: The Role of Enforcement in Securing Compliance with the Coronavirus Regulations (current) funded by the UKRI - We will be conducting a detailed analysis of Police Scotland's use of Fixed Penalty Notices in relation to the Coronavirus Regulations. This builds on work carried out on behalf of the Independent Advisory Group on police use of the temporary Coronavirus powers during the pandemic. It will examine in detail the likelihood of being issued with a FPN according to various characteristics, including ethnic group. This work has just commenced and will not be published until 2022. However, two descriptive data reports have been published on behalf of the IAG – see the Data report on Police Use of Fixed Penalty Notices under the Coronavirus Regulations in Scotland and the Second data report on Police Use of Fixed Penalty Notices under the Coronavirus Regulations in Scotland.

Respondent’s Institution

University of Edinburgh, School of Law

Topics covered

• Police

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

Scotland in Lockdown (CSO funded): Experiences of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of those in groups already facing isolation and marginalisation; included experiences of various minorities, including refugees and people seeking asylum as well as ethnic minorities among those in prison, surviving domestic abuse and sexual violence and dealing with a long term health condition or disability.

Respondent’s Institution

SCCJR

Topics covered

• Experience of crime and feelings of safety
• Courts
• Custodial sentences
• Other: victim/witness experiences

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

Understanding Inequalities (mentioned by 2 separate respondents)

• Current, funded by Economic and Social Research Council
• Analysis of trends in victimization inequality in Scotland using the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey across a number of dimensions of inequality, including ethnicity
• Interim findings have been presented at Crime Surveys User Conference 2020, but not peer-reviewed or published

Respondent’s Institution

University of Edinburgh, School of Law

Topics covered

• Experience of crime and feelings of safety

Permission to re-contact?

Yes

Understanding inequalities project (mentioned by 2 separate respondents)

(Current) funded by ESRC - We are exploring a number of different areas in relation to crime, justice and inequality using both administrative and survey data. This includes: (1) a project on changing inequality in the experience of being a victim of crime in Scotland (using Scottish Crime and Justice Survey) which includes analysis of the propensity of victimisation by ethnicity; (2) a project on how the changing legislation and guidance around stop and search in Scotland has impacted on equity in policing practice (using police Stop and Search Data) which includes analysis of communities and may include analysis of ethnicity; and (3) a project on causal factors in offending and justice system contact amongst children and young people in Scotland (using the Growing up in Scotland and Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime) which cannot include analysis on ethnicity due to small numbers. Papers are currently in progress and not yet published.

Respondent’s Institution

University of Edinburgh, School of Law

Topics covered

• Prevention and early intervention activities
• Experience of crime and feelings of safety
• Police

Permission to re-contact?

Yes