The government and police efforts to tackle financial crime - from business fraud to tax evasion - are hampered by a lack of accurate data about the nature and extent of offending, according to new research.

As public sector prisons move towards the thin staffing level model of profit-making institutions, with their high turnover of personnel who are less connected to their occupation, a study funded by the ESRC warns of a potentially detrimental impact on prison quality.

New research from the Institute for Criminal Policy Research at King's College, London, examines whether the police and the youth justice system treat young people from different ethnic groups in different ways.

What contributes to people's fear of crime in cities? How much do litter, graffiti, broken street lighting and dilapidated buildings play a role? Or do people's social and cultural knowledge play a stronger role in shaping people's fears?

Following recent media reports of racial strife and gangs in high security prisons in the UK, a new study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) paints a more encouraging - if sometimes contradictory - picture of multicultural prison life.

The police service faces a host of new challenges but also opportunities in the wake of the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorism attacks and the global economic downturn.