Justice Analytical Services: Areas of Research Interest

Introduction

This document sets out the current Areas of Research Interest (ARI) for the Scottish Government’s Justice Analytical Services Division. Justice Analytical Services, or ‘JAS’, is the division within the Scottish Government that is responsible for developing and communicating the evidence base for a safer and stronger Scotland. The division is made up of social researchers, statisticians, economists and operational researchers.

Our overarching purpose in JAS is to provide robust, credible and independent evidence to underpin and influence the delivery of all aspects of justice for the people of Scotland. We seek to promote the use of analysis to improve the policy and practice essential for achieving outcomes and to inform the policy agenda and debate. We strive to ensure that robust evidence gets to the people who need it, is accessible, easy to interpret and is widely used.

JAS supports a wide range of policy teams, each working on a diverse range of topics and areas. This document seeks to communicate our research priorities with external partners, experts in academia, research organisations and funding bodies. In doing so, we hope to expand and strengthen our analysis through positive engagement with experts.

The research areas set out in the following pages reflect our current priorities, but this document is not intended to be an exhaustive list. It should be emphasised that this is a set of research priorities, not policy priorities in general, and that if an issue is absent from this list, this does not indicate that it is not a policy priority for the government. The research priorities reflect areas where there is both an ongoing policy interest, and a need for additional evidence in order to support policy development or service improvement. There may be many issues that are high priority for the government but do not appear in this list, either because the present research evidence is adequate for our current purposes and stage in the policy cycle, or research to fill gaps in the evidence base is already being planned or is underway. Furthermore, priorities may change as a result of external factors.

We hope that external researchers and funding bodies find the document useful when seeking to decide what research can have the most impact for future government policy and decision-making.

If you do wish to discuss any aspects of this please contact: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot. The extent of any potential engagement between JAS and external researchers will depend on many factors including the project’s size, purpose, budget, priority and time scales, the ethical risks involved, and the availability of relevant expertise within JAS. Regardless, JAS analysts will be available to have an initial exchange about your project and needs.

Cross-Cutting Themes

We are aware that the research areas set out below are closely linked and many overlap, research projects that cut across identified topics are both helpful and impactful.

Furthermore, some proposed projects might also relate to areas outwith justice for example, inequality, education or health. We see the benefit in such cross-cutting research and such projects can underpin and inform government policy.

Methods

Work undertaken by researchers from a range of disciplines using an assortment of methods and approaches, including those that are innovative or seldom used, can inform government decision-making. As such, JAS would encourage academic-led research projects to employ any methods or approaches that are appropriate for the research question being addressed. JAS are also particularly interested in the way in which innovative methods can provide new insights into long-standing problems. For example, linking administrative data can deliver cutting-edge, data-driven insights which could help answer many research questions. See ADR Scotland for more information.

Over the following pages, the Areas of Research Interest for Justice Analytical Services are set out in the form of research questions. They are grouped under four themes: Crime, Prevention & Specific Crime Types; Justice Processes & Experiences; Sentencing, Prisons & Rehabilitation and, Whole Justice System Analysis. Neither the themes nor the questions are listed in any order of priority.