Deadline: 26-Oct-22
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is offering fellowship to establish whether different policies and practices within the justice system are effective in delivering intended outcomes of reducing reoffending, protecting the public and delivering swift access to justice.
Objectives
The fellows will work with analysts at the MoJ to identify scope for further quasi-experimental evaluation activity, using data from the ONS SRS, that explore priority evidence gaps. The fellows will also produce user guides to support future researchers wishing to conduct impact evaluations using justice data in the SRS, as well as ‘Data Explained’ outputs to share learning on the usability and limitations of the data.
The objectives are as follows:
- scope the feasibility of linked administrative datasets to understand their potential to address justice policy and practice interventions
- deliver evaluation findings with clear policy and practice implications for the criminal, civil and family justice systems
- engage with MoJ analysts, policymakers, and operational colleagues to ensure insights are effectively understood and disseminated
- demonstrate the value of using existing administrative data for impact evaluation purposes and build a strong economic case for expanding work in this area
- work alongside MoJ analysts to build capability in quasi-experimental design methods.
Focus Areas
Examples of areas that the evaluation fellows could focus on to inform policy and practice include:
- Criminal Justice: looking at the frequency of reappearance and reconviction before the criminal courts for specific groups of offenders who differ in a key outcome (such as sentencing, custody, or post-custody supervision) because of legislative, policy, or practice changes. Fellows could also explore strategic crime prevention priorities, looking at the impact on reoffending of different sentencing outcomes for high-frequency recurrent offenses, such as burglary and vehicle crime.
- Family Law: exploring the impact of changes to processes, practices, or policy (for example, the introduction of ‘no-fault’ divorce or the implementation of a 26-week timeframe for public law cases) on volume, cost, and return rate of cases through the family courts.
- Civil Law: assessing the impact of recent changes in housing law, such as legislation preventing bailiff enforcement of evictions during the pandemic in England on the numbers of orders made and enforced.
- Court Reform: evaluating an aspect of the complex and wide-ranging HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s (HMCTS) reform programme (for example, the impact of digital services on access to justice), in line with the HMCTS Reform Evaluation Framework.
Funding Information
- Total fund: £355,000
- Maximum award: £177,500
- ESRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost.
Outcomes
Fellows will use quasi-experimental methods to understand whether specific interventions are effective at delivering intended outcomes, such as:
- Reducing reoffending.
- Protecting the public.
- Delivering swift access to justice.
Eligibility Criteria
Proposals are welcome from individual researchers from eligible research organisations:
- UK higher education institutions.
- Research council institutes.
- UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-approved independent research organizations.
- Eligible public sector research establishments.
For more information, visit ESRC.
For more information, visit https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/adr-uk-and-ministry-of-justice-data-first-evaluation-fellowship/