AS Families & Households - the Troubled Families programme, 2011-2016

Often criticised for not doing enough to help families that need the most help, it now seems that even when they do try to help, governments just can't seem to get it right. So much so that an unfavourable report on the government's flagship policy, the Troubled Families Programme, appears to have been suppressed. Although the local government department denied that this was the case, it does appear that the government has been sitting on the unreleased report since the Autumn of 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37010486

A2 Crime & Deviance Case Study - The Spalding Murders

The recent high-profile criminal case where a mother and daughter were murdered in their beds by a pair of fourteen year-old children, has been shocking both because of the age of the accused pair and also because of the unprovoked, graphic and callous nature of the premeditated killings.

The dubious label of "Britain's youngest ever couple to be convicted of murder" means that the media have found the case to be both unusual and sensational. But while the obvious comparisons to 'Bonnie and Clyde' are being made, just how much do we understand about this case? In cases where there is no apparent strong motive for a crime, how do we go about establishing an explanation?

A2 Crime & Deviance - COMPAS: Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions

Prisoner Eric Loomis challenged the assessment which led to his incarceration

In the USA, in an attempt to remove human bias from decision-making procedures such as granting bail; sentencing length; granting parole etc., a 'machine selection' procedure called COMPAS (Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions) was introduced whereby these decisions are made based on the results of an algorithm.

A2 Crime & Deviance - Media - Crime Porn

Comedienne Doon Mackichan spoke out about the issue of 'crime porn' in the media, citing 'The Fall' in particular as an example of gratuitous use of violence against women as a titillating and shock device for viewer gratification: