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What does the future hold for crime and disorder reduction partnerships (CDRPs) over the coming year? A number of initiatives pre‐dating the 2005 election are likely to continue to shape the agenda for crime and disorder reduction partnerships over the coming months. However, announcements since the election are likely both to make the government's agenda underlying these initiatives clearer and speed‐up the pace of change.

The ‘confidence agenda’ poses important new challenges for crime and disorder reduction partnerships in general and the police in particular. To date, the police have made only limited use of new forms of social media and where they have been used, the police have yet to realise their full potential. New approaches are suggested that would increase their effectiveness. The challenge for the police will be to find a way to embrace the spirit of the new social media in such a way that the content that is developed is convincing and feels authentic to users.

The emergence of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) represents a major restructuring of the criminal justice sector which, in time, is likely to have a significant impact on the community safety field. New approaches to commissioning services, the management of offenders and the potential for a service more strongly focused on community interventions all present challenges and potential opportunities for community safety partnerships and partners.

The measurement of the costs of crime is an increasingly important topic in established industrial economies. Such costs imply a substantial loss in both tangible and intangible productivity, opportunity cost, resource use and quality of life. Here, we summarise the results of the latest research in the UK, and show that researchers are using increasingly accurate costs and indices analyses to allow the calculation of the costs of criminal activity.

This article summarises and discusses the main findings from a recently completed Independent Review of Crime Statistics. The Review focused upon the use of crime statistics and their fitness for purpose with particular attention paid to the needs of ‘the public’. The main conclusion was that the ongoing development of crime statistics is hampered by a confusion of means (technical discussions about crime statistics that focus on their interpretation and reliability) and ends (conceptual discussions about the purposes and interests of different groups in using crime statistics).

Partnership working is critical to delivery across the public sector but can often feel frustrating and ineffectual for those involved. This article focuses on four areas crucial for effective partnership working: ensuring that there is a clear justification for the partnership; involving service users and communities in ways that are empowering and sustainable; developing good governance arrangements; and developing effective performance management arrangements. Throughout the article, the contrasting experiences of crime and disorder reduction partnerships (CDRPs) and youth offending teams (YOTs) are used to illustrate key points.

This paper seeks to report on a project to estimate the costs and benefits of implementing an Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR) in Stockport. The work is designed to support the development of a Payment by Results (PbR) approach to funding.

The paper summarises existing literature on the potential impacts associated with ATRs, broader alcohol treatment, relevant offender interventions and calculates the costs associated with negative outcomes.

A model of the potential cost savings to the Criminal Justice System and the National Health Service is set out which suggests that an ATR would need to achieve a 12 per cent reduction in re‐offending to break even.

The methodology and findings will be of interest to drug and alcohol service providers and commissioners who are considering PbR

The criminal justice system (CJS) in England and Wales went through extensive reform under the Coalition Government of 2010-2015. In this paper, and through the lens of policing, prisons and probation, the authors set out to identify the direction and qualities of these reforms. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors review key policy documents produced by the Coalition Government as well as relevant critiques. The authors concentrate on policing, prisons and probation on the basis that interrogation of these major aspects of the CJS should enable the principles underpinning the Coalition’s approach to the CJS to be discerned.

The authors identify key themes, and their contradictions, that emerged in the Coalition Government’s approach to the CJS, these being: devolution and centralism; marketization with a growing emphasis on payment by results; politicisation and de-politicisation; and, evidence-based policy.

This is a review of recent government policy and as such some of the implications and outcomes resulting from that policy are not yet clear.

This paper will be of particular use to those working in or studying UK criminal justice policy. Given that the majority partner in the Coalition went on to form the current government policy trends from the recent Coalition are likely to have some relevance to current government policy making in the CJS.

To date there have only been limited attempts to identify key policy trends emerging from the Coalition Government.