Connect Centre webinar: Reducing domestic abuse by improving the measurement and analysis of data

Wednesday 15 February 4 – 5 pm, hosted by by School of Social Work, Care and Community – UCLan

Reliable and valid measures of domestic abuse (DA) at the individual, neighbourhood, regional and national levels are crucial. A clear understanding of the nature and extent of the problem will allow us to respond appropriately to reduce levels of DA, reduce harm resulting from DA, and protect lives. A number of sources of information are available, each with their own strengths but each with considerable weaknesses.

One source that is little used but shows promise is data from police information systems (as distinct from data from the Police National Computer). Ongoing work by the VISION consortium will address the challenges of working with data from different police forces. The main aim of VISION – a five-year national project funded by a £7million grant from the UKPRP – is to optimise and synthesise fragmented data on all forms of violence from multiple sources (police, surveys, courts, health etc) within a shared framework.

Dr Les Humphreys is a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice and Policing at UCLan. Prior to joining UCLAN, he worked at Lancaster University for almost 20 years in various academic roles. He is a quantitative criminologist specialising in carrying out longitudinal analysis, and his research involves applying sophisticated statistical methods to all types of criminal justice data.