**Charity Registration No. 1073154**
**Company Registration No. 03515512 (England and Wales)**
## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
**ANNUAL REPORT AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**
## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION**
|**Trustees**|Prof B Goldson||
|---|---|---|
||Dr H L Pierpoint||
||Prof A J Brimicombe||
||Prof A Wahidin||
||Dr R C Vipond||
||Prof A Tseloni||
||Prof P Davies||
||Dr E C Seal||
||Dr O Smith||
||Prof J Treadwell||
||Dr N B A Groombridge||
||Prof S Walklate||
||Dr J Smith||
||Dr D C Churchill||
||Dr K Strudwick||
||Prof D Best||
||Dr J W Heydon||
||Dr V Heap||
||Dr M C Duggan||
||Dr M Jones||
||Prof A E Millie|(Appointed 24 June 2020)|
||Dr J Price|(Appointed 28 July 2020)|
||Dr B Cole|(Appointed 3 February|
|||2021)|
||Mrs G Gallacher|(Appointed 22 March|
|||2021)|
|**Secretary**|Prof A J Brimicombe||
|**Charity number**|1073154||
|**Company number**|03515512||
|**Principal address**|10 Queen Street Place||
||London||
||EC4R 1BE||
|**Registered office**|10 Queen Street Place||
||London||
||EC4R 1BE||
|**Independent examiner**|UHY Hacker Young||
||PO Box 501||
||The Nexus Building||
||Broadway||
||Letchworth Garden City||
||Herts||
||SG6 9BL||
## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION**
## **Bankers**
Barclays Bank PLC Epsom Leicestershire Leicester LE87 2BB
Bath Investment & Building Society 15 Queen Square Bath BA1 2HN
The Charity Bank Limited Fosse House 182 High Street Tonbridge TN9 1BE
## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **CONTENTS**
||**Page**|
|---|---|
|Trustees' report|1 - 14|
|Independent examiner's report|15|
|Statement of financial activities|16|
|Balance sheet|17|
|Statement of cash flows|18|
|Notes to the financial statements|19 - 27|
## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the Society's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015)”.
## **Objectives and activities**
The Society's objectives are to advance public education about crime, criminal behaviour and the criminal justice systems in the United Kingdom. This is important for the running of civil society, to provide an educational and scrutiny role to public policy makers, and ensure sufficient research evidence and education for future generations.
2020 was of course a strange and troubling year for everyone globally and, in common with many organisations, the Society was impacted heavily in both the provision of many of its activities and its income streams. The Society had to cancel many events in particular its annual conference which had been due to be held at the University of Liverpool and for which plans were advanced. While BSC members adapted quickly and well to the new online world and a number of very popular events and networking opportunities were adapted and developed, many of our colleagues in other learned societies and in academic institutions reported financial and wellbeing problems within their organisations and many practitioner members were overwhelmed with the new practicalities of their jobs. Friends and colleagues suffered serious illness and a number lost their lives.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the Society should undertake.
## **Membership**
At the end of 2020 the Society had 907 members. This increase on 2019 included UK members with a current direct debit, overseas members and honorary members. A recruitment initiative was continued in 2020 with separate group and individual options for undergraduates (through their institutions and individually) and the Society now supports some 410 students on such schemes. Through these efforts, the Society has not seen the membership drop of many learned societies through 2020.
The Society continued to receive 26 standing order payments varying in amounts from a few pounds to an outdated membership subscription. The Society has made a number of efforts to reach out to those making standing order payments through a process of identifying and contacting them (by email and letter). These payments sometimes come from members who have transferred to direct debit but failed to cancel their standing orders but in many of the extant cases the originator is unidentifiable and the amounts very small. These standing order payments cannot be stopped by the Society, only the account holder, and they no longer attract membership benefits. They remain an administrative burden to the Society in terms of accounting for them in audit and the continued efforts we make to contact the originator. At the 2016 AGM, it was agreed that we would treat such monies as donations to be used to support the charitable activities of the BSC and therefore the monies involved have been transferred from creditors to income in the following accounts.
Of our members, 69.2% are based in the university sector, 8.2% are practitioners working in the public and independent sectors, 14.9% are postgraduate students, and 7.6% are based overseas – while these represent fairly consistent proportions of members compared to the year before there has been a slight increase in academic over practitioner members. A new drive to attract more practitioner members will begin in 2021 targeting those working in research and data-gathering within crime and justice public and third sector organisations.
The Society is managed by its Executive Committee, consisting of the President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Executive Secretary of the Society, together with the Regional Groups and Specialist Networks Coordinator, all chairs of Specialist Networks, and chairs of the Publications, Prizes, Public Relations, Conference, Postgraduate and Professional Affairs & Ethics Committees.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
The Executive Committee can have up to four members 'without portfolio', one of these would usually be the previous President of the Society. Constitutionally, the Company Secretary is also a member of the Executive Committee and with the President, Executive Secretary and Treasurer forms the Finance and General Purposes Committee. In 2015, the AGM created a new role of Vice President to take some of the pressure of workload from the President and ensure greater continuity. The Society is governed by its Constitution, which is amended periodically via member vote at its AGM.
The eight committees, working largely electronically, have spread the burden of Society work more equitably, and increased capacity significantly. During 2020, the whole Executive Committee began to meet via Zoom from March taking interim decisions occasionally via email correspondence. Online meetings are expected to continue into 2021 and to remain a periodic feature of the EC meeting structure into the future.
We would like to thank all the trustees who have served the BSC and retired from the Executive this year – Peter Squires, Coretta Phillips and Alpa Parmar.
## **Achievements and performance**
## **Professional Affairs & Ethics Committee**
• During 2019, the BSC began a process of strategic review to explore the role of the Society and plan for the future. This was overtaken by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the response to which has shaped discussions into the future of the annual conference in particular. The nature and number of BSC prizes have also been the subject of review this year.
• The BSC made further nominations to the REF Law, Social Work and Social Policy (SWSP) and Sociology subpanels, together with History, in response to the call issued in 2020 to address gaps within the current provision. As well as confirming existing candidates from the previous nominations round in 2017, the BSC issued an open call for interested criminologists and a small group of the Executive Committee with REF experience reviewed the nominations in the light of the criteria specified by the REF team including for the role of joint assessor to co-ordinate criminology outputs across the sub panels Law, SWSP and Sociology, which was later incorporated into existing structures.
• As an academic publisher, the BSC responded to the UKRI consultation on open access. This is an issue of importance to the BSC as a publisher of a hybrid journal (accepting both pay-to-read and open access articles) deemed noncompliant under current plans and to our members as contributors as authors, reviewers and readers.
As a charity whose charitable aim is to increase public education about criminology, we support the principles of open access for publicly-funded research, particularly to the wider public and to those researchers without the institutional backing which funds access to the literature, including discipline practitioners, who form some of our membership. We welcome therefore the commitment to ensure funders encourage open access by funding that access.
However, we also stated that we believed that government plans were under developed in terms of exploring the mechanisms by which the funders intend to replicate the quality of existing publications in its open access models if they are not to include hybrid. The BSC involvement in journal publishing cannot be reduced to finance; its investment is to shape and encourage our discipline, to ensure a diversity and quality of avenues in which criminologists can publish. The BSC partly owns one journal with a publisher (Criminology & Criminal Justice) and invests all of its royalty income into supporting a second well-regarded criminology journal (British Journal of Criminology). The academic publishing endeavour is built on the free goodwill of much of the workforce from the reviewers, editorial board and editors who give up their time in the interests of their research communities ensuring quality articles are published, but also invisibly encouraging and improving the work of those new to the field in the form of feedback and reviewer comments.
If UKRI is to swap the money flow from the reader to the author, are they also to recompense this army of workers? In the current model, this work is pro bono – many hours of unpaid work, completed at weekends and in the evenings – that a financialised model is failing to address. Academics welcome the plurality and plethora of current publication methods giving researchers, both publicly-funded and not publicly- funded, academic freedom to choose where to disseminate research findings.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
Some of our members feel that dividing research into that well-funded by the state and that reliant on the remaining subscription will adversely skew the publishing and citation of research in that the power to accept/ reject will be concentrated to the few to the detriment of opposing/radical views.
These financial imperatives lead to the rather narrow accessibility aim of ensuring academic articles are available free of charge to those who might want to read them. We do not believe that many practitioners and members of the public have the time or necessary academic training to want to access the material in a format intended for fellow academics. Therefore, we believe that the UK government should commit to ensuring that funding is also committed to make the material not just physically accessible but accessible in the wider sense of being in a format likely to be read and promulgated by the public at large. This could additionally mean jointly funding a publicly-usable information management system and database with a sophisticated search engine mechanism for interested parties to locate topic areas rather than specific articles in specific journals – in other words improve discoverability.
In addition, it was not clear to us as criminologists how compliance can be monitored comprehensively in the suggested open access systems and therefore enforcement would be ad hoc and potentially unfair, or perceived to be, if directed disproportionally at one group of researchers. Unless a financial sanction is imposed at first breach, there is no incentive for funded researchers to comply initially as they stand a good chance in a risk assessment of not getting caught and, if caught, would be warned before sanctions would apply.
Finally, the coronavirus lockdown has impacted heavily on all parties concerned with this new policy from the universities to the publishers to the readers and researchers. Specifically, it has impacted on the finances of many learned societies, one of whose main income streams is large events such as conferences, the majority of which have been cancelled or transferred to free online alternatives. To have the uncertainties of the newlyshaped journals on top of this is likely to be mean that some will cease activity. We feel this initiative should be delayed until at least 2023 when the government itself has said the economy might be in recovery.
The BSC has joined the ‘Society Publishers’ Coalition’ (a grouping of not-for -profit academic journal owners with common ground across the disciplines) in order to stay in the forefront of new developments.
• The BSC continued to respond to queries from both individuals and outside bodies for ethical advice and review, receiving unanimously positive feedback for its input.
## **Conference Committee**
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we made an early decision to cancel our 2020 conference – Criminology in an Age of Global Injustice(s) - which would have been hosted by The University of Liverpool. This decision meant delegates missed the chance to network with their peers and present their research. In recognition of these lost opportunities, we wanted to offer some alternative ways of engaging and the Society hosted a free online event ‘Global Injustice – Beyond the Conference 2020’ - a series of seminars, podcasts and video with publishers offering virtual bookstands and advice sessions and postgraduates web posters designed to give the flavour of the conference from the comfort of their own homes. As a positive of the new platform, many of the events were recorded and left legacy products for those unable to attend.
## Among the events were:
• Jayne Price, co-chair of the BSC Early Career Researchers Network, and Carina O’Reilly, chair of the BSC Postgraduate Committee, led a ‘Public Engagement and Your Audiences’ workshop focussing specifically on Early Career Researchers and Postgraduates. This event was interactive, asking delegates to think about their work and its possible audiences, and also included some guidance on non-academic press outlets.
• In the ‘Writing for Journals’ workshop, Michele Burman, Co Editor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, and Eamonn Carrabine, Editor-in-Chief of The British Journal of Criminology, discussed writing for journals, and included a Q&A session.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
• Emerald Publishing and the British Society of Criminology joined together to host a panel discussion on how feminist perspectives have changed the discipline with speakers Sandra Walklate, President of the BSC, Walter S. DeKeseredy, Anna Deane Carlson, Endowed Chair of Social Sciences, Director of the Research Center on Violence, and Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University, USA, Stacy Banwell, Principal lecturer in Criminology, University of Greenwich, and Marian Duggan, Chair of the BSC Women Crime and Criminal Justice Network. This popular event attracted 160 delegates from around the world.
• A celebration of the publication of “Marketisation and Privatisation in Criminal Justice”, edited by Kevin Albertson, Mary Corcoran and Jake Phillips and aimed at academics, policy makers, practitioners and criminal justice stakeholders interested in the interactions between the public, private and third sector agencies around criminal justice.
• A number of Podcasts including Tanya Wyatt and Rob White talking about what Green Criminology actually is, David Best being interviewed by Omar Khan about the BSC Prisons Research Network, Marian Duggan interviewed by Helen Jones about the BSC Women Crime and Criminal Justice Network, BSC International Ambassador Richard Hough again talking to Helen Jones, Shadd Maruna and Deborah Jones discussing her book ‘Boxing Violence and Desistance’ and an interview with BSC Blog winner Lambros Fatsis.
## **Postgraduate Committee**
The BSC postgraduate social media presence has a blog and 3,400 in the Facebook group together with a similar number of Twitter followers, all of which creates a vibrant online community that not only shares news and insights on criminological issues, but also represents a platform to share event details, research methods and best practices and in general inform and disseminate the values and principles of the Society. The 2020 blog includes some useful advice about online interviewing. The committee has also identified the need to strengthen and consolidate with people at the start of their PhD in order to manage continuity through the committee’s activities – currently too many committee members become so very near the end of their studies. In common with many of our Networks and committees, the postgraduate committee had to cancel a planned f2f event – part of its Thinking Differently series - due to take place at Staffordshire University in April.
## **Public Relations Committee**
As in previous years, in 2020 the Society gave advisory information to a number of journalists. We tend to average two media enquiries per week. If these enquiries cannot be addressed immediately by the office staff, they are referred to the Chair of the Public Relations Committee. The Society has developed a ‘knowledge bank’ from what was previously known as the media list in order to distance suggested topic specialists from BSC spokespeople.
A regular Tweeting programme has been established in a bid to keep members and wider society informed of Society activity and criminological events and issues. Our Twitter following (at December 2020) stood at 22,455 – another large year-on-year increase due to the work that has been put into this.
Our website receives an average of 7,000 visits per month from around the world (majority UK but also USA, China, India, Pakistan, Canada, Australia). The most downloaded documents on our site this year included our 2020 Newsletter and ‘British serial killing: towards a structural explanation’ by Chris Grover and Keith Soothill. This latter document was first published in our Conference Proceedings publication in 1997 which demonstrates the longevity of interest in publications.
The BSC blog: https://thebscblog.wordpress.com/ continues to attract authors and readers. During the year we published 24 articles and there were just over 13,000 visitors – tripling the numbers from 2018, the blog’s first full year of operation. The article judged as ‘Blog of the Year 2020’ ‘Violence in our Cities’ (published in August 2020) was a collaborative blog written by Luke Billingham, Elizabeth Cook, Anthony Ellis and Keir Irwin-Rogers.
We have also built on our monthly draw for free books in partnership with the main criminological publishers. This initiative, started in 2016, has proved popular with members (both early career and significantly more established).
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
## **Regional Groups and Specialists Networks Committee**
We are extremely fortunate in having dedicated teams working in the regions hosting exceptional events which go to the heart of our main charitable aim. Only a few events were able to go ahead before the first lockdown and many planned events had to be cancelled, though some were repackaged later in the year online. The Society is proud of the efforts subsequently made by our Regional Groups to adapt to new conditions for research exchange and engagement while coping with the varying teaching demands of their institutions. One benefit of the new regime was that many regional events were more accessible to a wider audience, not limited to the local area and resulted in legacy products for those not able to attend at the time of the event. The Society thanks all those who organize and speak at these events as well as those who attend and join in the discussions.
## Events included:
• The British Society of Criminology North East branch in conjunction with the BSC Green Criminology Network held one of the few face-to-face events before restrictions in January at Northumbria University – ‘Green Criminology in the Anthropocene’. In the context of widespread, human-induced environmental harm criminology – as the discipline primarily concerned with questions of deviance and social control – finds itself particularly relevant. As such, this one-day symposium aimed to spark debate in criminology about how best to respond to contemporary and emerging environmental crimes and harms at a time when existing responses appear ineffective.
• The BSC Midlands branch launched two online events, the first in October ‘The Development of Transnational Policing’ with papers ‘The origins of transnational policing: the continental activities of the Bow Street ‘Runners’, 1749-1839’ by David J. Cox; ‘Transnational policing of online sex trafficking’ by Karlie E. Stonard (and Ana M. Fuentes Cano) and ‘Enhancing the accountability and transparency of transnational police cooperation within the European Union’ by John L.M. McDaniel (and Anita Lavorgna); and the second hosted by Derby University in December ‘Desistance and Rehabilitation: International Perspectives ‘ with contributions by Stephen Farrell (University of Derby). ‘Agency and Structure in Processes of Desistance and Persistence’; Marie-Pierre Villeneuve, (Université de Sherbrooke), ‘Assisting Processes of Desistance in Criminal Justice System Settings’; David Best (University of Derby), ‘Measuring pathways to change: Recovery capital to institutional justice capital’; Wouter Vanderplasschen, (Ghent University, Department of Special Needs Education), ‘Presentation on a recovery study with offenders not deemed criminally responsible’; and Isabelle F. Dufour (Laval University), ‘Transcendence and Desistance’.
• The BSC South Coastal branch in association with the Women’s Academic Network and Bournemouth University’s Centre for Seldom Heard Voices heard ‘When Women Return to Prison: Exploring the Dynamics of Female Recidivism in Jamaica’ by Dacia Leslie (University of the West Indies) in November via Zoom.
• The BSC South West Branch hosted a Research Seminar in conjunction with the University of Plymouth on Zoom in December - ‘‘Dangerous Drugs’ in the Contemporary Era’ - to mark and reflect on the centenary of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920 and its legacy on drug prohibition. With Tammy Ayres (University of Leicester) and Stuart Taylor (Liverpool John Moores University) The Legacy of the Dangerous Drugs Act: ‘The dichotomies of the drug apartheid’’ and Steve Wakeman (Liverpool John Moores University): ‘Moral Economies of Heroin Addiction: Implications for ‘Progressive’ Drug Policy Reform’.
• The BSC Welsh Branch and the Cardiff Centre for Crime, Law and Justice invited speaker Layla Skinns in November to discuss her ESRC-funded research on material conditions in police custody. Layla started by referring to a recent Trip Advisor review of a police custody block in South Yorkshire, the reviewer gave it only half a star and complained that “it was nothing but four walls and a mattress”. This illustrates how material conditions matter to those arrested and detained by the police whilst an investigation is conducted and a decision is taken about what to do next with the case. The purpose of the paper was to examine the ‘representational’ quality of these material conditions of police custody. Whether detainees have access to natural light and are detained in facilities which appear well maintained conveys to detainees something about how they are perceived by police authorities, by the state and by wider society, meaning that if a custody facility appears well looked after it suggests to detainees that their treatment is likely to follow suit.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
These ideas are examined using findings from a five-year ESRC-funded mixed-methods study of ‘good’ police custody which showed that detainee experiences of different types of dignity – linked to feelings of equal worth, autonomy and public decency – were significantly informed by their experiences of the material conditions of police custody.
The BSC now has fourteen specialist network groups including a new Vulnerability Network launched in 2020, increasing its potential to reach out, influence and educate.
## The networks are:
*The Youth Criminology/Youth Justice Network (YC/YJN), established in 2008 ‘to open communication and facilitate critical reflection and exchange within and between the academic, policy and practice communities nationally and internationally’, and chaired by Barry Goldson (Liverpool University).
*The Crime and Justice Statistics Network (CJSN), established in 2009, and chaired again by Allan Brimicombe in 2020 is a virtual community defined by the JISCMAIL CRIME-JUSTICE-STATS which serves as a base for sending out relevant information and announcements, most notably calls for consultations on pending or under consideration changes in crime and justice data definitions, production and reporting by the Office for National Statistics, Home Office and Ministry of Justice. The Network provides an arena for debate about the production and publication of crime and justice statistics; works to improve perception and public trust in crime and justice statistics and supports the proper interpretation of crime statistics and encourages greater analytic use of criminal justice statistics and surveys. Current membership stands at 165. The Network’s May event in conjunction with RSS was sadly cancelled.
*The Women, Crime and Criminal Justice Network, established in 2011, was chaired in 2020 by Marian Duggan of Kent University. The network exists to support scholarship on women, crime and criminal justice, and to foster research of the highest standard. In addition to promoting scholarship on women, crime and criminal justice, the network also aims to support women as criminological scholars. The Network has 85 members all now registered on a members’ directory and a Twitter account with 1,700 followers. The Network published its first video in its new mentoring series aiming to pair early career academics with later career academics having a critical conversation accessible enough to be widely shared beyond academia. The first ‘Connecting Criminologists: Jennifer and Hannah’ brought together Hannah Marshall and Jennifer Fleetwood talking about gender, crime (particularly the drugs trade) and narrative criminology. Also featured in their discussion was their experiences of doing ethnography, race and criminal justice, globalisation and decolonising criminology. Jennifer is a criminologist and sociologist based at Goldsmiths University, Hannah is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Community, Gender and Social Justice at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge.
A joint event co-hosted by the British Society of Criminology Women Crime and Criminal Justice Network and the Green Criminology Research Network originally planned face-to-face in April was repackaged online later in the year. The event ‘Gendering Green Criminology’ Twitter hashtag addressed how feminism can engage meaningfully with environmental harm. Why should those concerned about environmental harm also be concerned with issues of gender? This one-day conference joined feminism, gender studies, and green criminology, to explore the intersections between gender, environmental, non-human animal, and wildlife crimes and harms. Speakers included: Stephen Burrell (Durham University) — The climate crisis and men’s violence: Exploring the connections between masculinities and environmental harm; Ana Leite (Durham University) — Conspiracy theories, feelings of threat, and attitudes towards animals and the environment; Francis Masse (Northumbria University) — Gendered dimensions of wildlife crime; Kay Peggs (Kingston University) — Veganism, crime and consuming animals; Corey Wrenn (University of Kent) — Vegan feminist activism then and now; and Tanya Wyatt (Northumbria University) — Gender and environmental harm.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
*The Policing Network, also established in 2011 with the core aims of advancing understanding of policing studies and providing an arena for information exchange, critical analysis and debate across the research, policy and practice communities – nationally and internationally - was chaired during 2020 by Matt Jones (Open University). The Policing Network continues to be a significant source of information exchange and networking for police researchers and practitioners in the UK and abroad. It now has over 250 members. During 2020, the Network published a series of blogs themed around the policing of the Covid crisis including Jonas Grutzpalk (University of Applied Sciences for Policing and Public Administration in North RhineWestphalia) What are police learning during the pandemic?; Megan O’Neill (University of Dundee): What the Coronavirus has taught us about community policing; Helen Wells (Keele University), Liz Aston (Edinburgh Napier), Megan O’Neill (University of Dundee) and Ben Bradford (UCL): The rise of technologically-mediated police contact: the potential consequences of ‘socially-distanced policing’; Liz Turner and Mike Rowe (University of Liverpool): Police discretion and the coronavirus pandemic; and Sara Grace (University of Salford): Policing the coronavirus lockdown: The limits of on-the-spot fines. A planned face-to-face seminar ‘Critical Reflections on Evidence-Based Policing’ for the first week of lockdown March 25 had to be cancelled.
*The Learning and Teaching Network was established in 2012 as a vehicle bringing together colleagues across the discipline with a specific learning and teaching interest while looking for opportunities to embed good practice at module, course and programme levels. The Network was chaired by Katie Strudwick at Lincoln in 2020 and the Network now has 40 members.
*The Victims Network was set up by Pamela Davies of Northumbria University in 2014 bringing together those who have interests around victims of crime and social harm, survivors and resilience. In 2020 it was chaired by Hannah Bows (University of Durham) but had to postpone its planned Planning and Writing Event.
*The Critical Criminology Network - launched in 2015 - was chaired in 2020 by Oliver Smith (Plymouth University) and Tammy Ayres (University of Leicester) with a remit to ‘breathe new life into critical criminology, encouraging critical criminologists to hatch new ideas that relate to the world as it is now’.
*The Prison Research Network was set up in 2015 to be convened on a rotation basis, in 2020 by David Best (Derby University) to provide a forum for prison researchers to share information and experience about prisons with a view to developing critical analysis and debate across research, policy and practice communities. The membership currently stands at 55. In November 2020, the network’s post-graduate and early career group held a reflections seminar: “Challenges and opportunities: conducting research in prisons for post-grads, post-docs, and their supervisors”. The aim was to provide some insight and guidance on the challenges, pitfalls and opportunities involved in conducting PhDs in prisons – both for students entering prisons and for students who are prisoners, as well as offering a means of supporting academics without a background in penology who are supervising prison-focused PhDs. A second online seminar focused on Insider Ethnography and included a presentation from Jamie Bennett, a deputy director in HM Prisons and Probation Service in England and Wales, currently Head of Operational Security. His presentation explored the experience of conducting an ethnographic study of prison managers by a prison manager. The theoretical underpinnings discussed included the differences between insider and outsider research in locating a reflexive position that is both sufficiently intimate in order to capture the rich experience of those being studied whilst also having enough distance in order to be able to situate this within a wider social context. The presentation discussed insider ethnography as turbulent process with its emotional complexity and implications for identity and power.
*The Early Career Researchers Network was launched in 2016 under the chair of Anna Sergi (Essex University) and chaired in 2020 by Adam Lynes of Birmingham City University and Jayne Price at Chester, with an aim to support post-doctoral researchers as they enter criminological working life, thus concentrating on events and initiatives of interest to this specific group. The ECR has 798 members on its Facebook page, has recruited an engaged steering group and have plans to continue with events in 2021.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
*The Historical Criminology Network, chaired by David Churchill (Leeds University) was set up in 2018. The Network hosted the first large BSC virtual event repackaging a planned Historical Criminology Workshop online. The workshop was designed to bring together small groups of scholars to initiate conversations around common interests or new directions for research in historical criminology. Seven groups were formed on the following themes: mobile methods; police corruption; history and interdisciplinarity; atonement; dark tourism; path dependence and criminal justice institutions; and protection. More than 50 people joined the event from 7 countries. Most were academics, with a strong PGR/ECR contingent, though there were some practitioners (e.g. senior police officers, museum professionals). The structure of each group was left in the hands of the convenor. Most opted for a fairly loose format of introductions followed by a free-flowing discussion. Others were more structured – sharing biographies of research interests in advance, giving each participant 5 minutes to outline their thoughts on the topic, or having a formal paper presentation to open the discussion. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive – all participants thought the event worthwhile and almost all said they would attend a similar event in future. Individuals described it as the best ‘physical-to-virtual’ transition they had attended, or the most fulfilling event in a long time. The ability to facilitate international dialogue cheaply and conveniently was noted by several. Some groups are planning further meetings to take their discussions forward, or exploring potential for a special issue/edited collection. The event was ‘lived scribed’ by an artist who attended the sessions and drew what she heard. The artwork made a worthwhile contribution - it gave an injection of cheer at the end of each session, was widely picked up and shared on Twitter, and useful for convenors going forward in sharing the fruits of their work.
*The Hate Crime Network also launched in 2018, chaired by Jo Smith (Brighton University). This network is intended to provide a forum for those within the criminology community who have an interest in researching hate crime. This may include, although not be limited to, the following issues: perpetration; victimisation; legislation and policy; policing; rehabilitation and punishment of offenders; theoretical approaches; intersections of hate crime victimisation; and technology and hate crime. This network seeks to facilitate the exchange of ideas and work amongst scholars in the hate crime community, to promote and support excellence in this field for those at all stages of their career, and to provide the opportunity for greater engagement with policy makers, criminal justice practitioners and the wider general public. In 2019, their first event was held at Nottingham Trent University, on ‘Misogyny as Hate Crime’. A book from this event is due to be published in August 2021.
*The Race Matters Network was launched in 2019 chaired by Coretta Phillips (LSE) and Pamela Ugwudike (University of Southampton). In 2020, it was chaired by Alpa Parmar (Oxford University) and then Monish Bhatia (Birkbeck) and Bankole Cole (Sheffield Hallam). The aim of the Network is to foster greater attention to the dynamics of race and racism in criminological projects and practice, including in the wider work of the BSC; offer support, solidarity and academic development to Black and minority ethnic scholars in criminology, as well as those working within the subfield of race and criminology; engage with local communities, practitioners and policy makers to influence, listen and inform around questions of race and racism; and to foster wider recognition of the contribution of Black and minority ethnic scholars to criminology, historically, nationally and internationally. Their planned event ‘Race Matters: theorizing democracy, state power, and citizenship in policed communities’ by Vesla Weaver (Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Political Science and Sociology, John Hopkins University), on 19 March at the LSE was one of the first to be cancelled. The Network published a statement relating to the murder of George Floyd in America in 2020 ‘Race, policing and criminal justice: Statement from BSC Race Matters Network on events in the USA’ and has set out a programme of activity including collecting EDI data and working within the QAA benchmarking structure to embed decolonising the criminology curriculum in university teaching programs.
*The Green Criminology Research Network, was also set up in 2019 and chaired by James Heydon of Nottingham University with the aims of providing an arena to share information, experience and perspectives on environmental crimes and harms, advancing understandings and stimulating debate on environmental issues across the spheres of research, policy and practice and promoting the inclusion of environmental issues into criminological teaching and learning strategies, curricula and/or benchmarks. They currently have a membership of 86 members and 709 Twitter followers. Alongside its joint events with the North East branch and the BSC WCCN, the Green Criminology Network worked towards its first Twitter conference ‘Green Criminology in a Changing World’ at the beginning of 2021.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
*In 2020. the BSC launched the Vulnerability Network chaired by Harriet Pierpoint (University of South Wales) and Roxanna Dehaghani (Cardiff University). The use of the term ‘vulnerability’ is increasing in public, political and academic discourse and has become a key concern of criminologists and criminal justice practitioners internationally. This network provides a forum for discussion on the complexities inherent to researching vulnerability within the context of crime and justice. To this end, it intends to bring academics, practitioners, and policy makers together to establish a ‘state of the art’ criminal justice vulnerabilities research agenda, paying particular attention to identifying needs and gaps in the research capacity of academics, practitioners, and policymakers; the range and adequacy of theoretical and methodological tools used in criminal vulnerabilities research, and the ethics of such research, the relationships between statutory and nonstatutory agencies in responding to vulnerabilities, crime and the factors that shape these criminal justice responses to vulnerabilities crimes. The Network hosted a launch event held online with a keynote speech by Professor Emeritus Gisli Gudjonsson CBE entitled, ‘What does it mean to be vulnerable and what are the challenges?’ and has published a webinar and podcasts on its YouTube channel. It is planning a series of Flash talks for 2021 as well as the launch of its own website. The VRN has 92 members and 372 Twitter followers.
The growth in specialist networks in the last few years has represented a considerable increase in Society activity, improving the discipline of criminology’s research visibility and hence impact. Most of the networks have not just JISC mail lists of members – which are open to everybody not just BSC members – but also separate websites (for example, the Learning and Teaching Network https://bscltn.wordpress.com/ and the Policing Network https://bscpolicingnetwork.com/), blogs and Twitter accounts to engage with the wider world. The BSC welcomes expressions of interest for new specialist networks.
## **Prizes Committee**
In 2020, the Society awarded its Outstanding Achievement Award to Mike Maguire, Professor of Criminology at the University of South Wales, in recognition of his life’s work of criminological research and teaching, taking his expertise widely into the policy and practice world.
Mike has published widely on many crime and justice related topics, including policing, prisons, resettlement of offenders, crime victims, burglary, criminal statistics, and the role of the third sector. He is a former member of the Parole Board and Wales Probation Trust and currently a member of the Correctional Services Accreditation Panel of England and Wales; a board member of Integrated Offender Management, Cymru; and a Trustee of Safer Wales.
During his career, Mike has produced more than 100 wide-ranging publications, including five editions of the prestigious Oxford Handbook of Criminology. His nominators said: “Mike is a remarkable and generous mentor. He has supervised and examined over 30 PhD students, supported countless research staff and colleagues and generated positive impacts for policy-makers, practitioners, offenders, their families and victims”.
Mike was presented with his award at a Zoom ceremony by Sandra Walklate after an introduction by nominators Fiona Brookman and Harriet Pierpoint: https://www.britsoccrim.org/oaa/ Fiona also subsequently interviewed him and the recording is on the BSC website.
The annual book prize, sponsored by Routledge, was awarded to Brendan Marsh’s book ‘The Logic of Violence: An Ethnography of Dublin’s Illegal Drug Trade’ (Part of the Routledge ‘Advances in Ethnography’ Series). The text is the result of the first ethnographic study of an illegal drug market in Dublin. Brendan’s book examines violence in an illegal drug market from the perspectives of those who had participated in it, that is, formerly-addicted people as well as former profit-oriented drug dealers.
In moving away from the more regular features of young experimental users and social supply, Marsh shines a light into the dark corners and the voices so often unheard, but so often at the centre of that which people understand conventionally as crime. James Treadwell, Chair of the prize committee and the judging panel said: “Brendan is an ethnographer that can clearly penetrate the surface, and as importantly, challenge the surface suggestions and sentiments, thereby uncovering even more. It is wonderfully crafted in a manner that presents the stories and the data in an accessible and engaging manner. It is quite simply, an amazing book that I hope everyone interested in criminology reads”.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
The BSC book prize is awarded to first-time book authors whose work shows evidence of particular distinction and/or innovation in methodology or theorising in the general field of criminology, or in the application of criminological theory or research to crime policy or penal practice particularly welcoming nominations from authors in the early years of their academic/research careers.
This year’s Postgraduate research poster prize was awarded to: ‘Intimate Partner Violence: Barriers to helpseeking experienced by women in the UK’ by Amrana Latif (PhD Student – University of Huddersfield) Supervisors: Dr Graham R Gibbs, Dr Nadia Wager. The poster prize is judged on research strength as well as visual impact.
The 2020 Brian Williams Journal Article Prize was awarded to Louise Brangan for her article: ‘Civilizing Imprisonment: The Limits of Scottish Penal Exceptionalism’ published in The British Journal of Criminology. Louise Brangan is a Lecturer in Criminology in the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) in the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stirling. She completed her PhD in Criminology at the University of Edinburgh in 2017. The Brian Williams Prize was established to honour the memory of Dr Brian Williams, Professor of Community Justice and Victimology at De Montfort University, who was a member of the BSC Executive Committee at the time of his death in 2007. The prize reflects the desire of the British Society of Criminology to encourage and recognise the achievements of new members of the criminology profession, and is awarded to the author of a criminological article, who is a “new” scholar, published in a refereed academic journal.
The Women, Crime and Criminal Justice Network awarded their 2020 Paper Prize to Dr Alexandra Fanghanel for her article ‘Asking for it: BDSM sexual practice and the trouble of consent’ in Sexualities, 23(3), 269–286. The judges said: “This is a really interesting article on a significantly under-researched area, which ably synthesises a range of literature in providing the broader context for the investigation. Fanghanel evaluates the concepts of consent, trust and risk – and the critical grey area in between – in relation to BDSM practices through her case study of 40 kinkers. Drawing on interviews conducted with a diverse sample of participants, the paper does a really good job of adding complexity to an otherwise well-established body of work on ‘consent’. Her findings, written with a detailed level of analysis and commentary, reveal the tensions between negotiating ‘consent violators’ and nurturing an important sense of community ethic. Ultimately, Fanghanel asks us to consider the concept of consent using a more nuanced lens. It is a really well written piece of work’. The WCCJ Network prize was introduced to celebrate excellence in research and scholarship from members of the Network.
Because of the crisis and the additional responsibilities faced by many of our members and committees, a number of the prizes were not awarded for 2020 included the National Award for Excellence in Teaching Criminology and the Hate Crime and Policing Network prizes.
We congratulate all of our 2020 prize winners.
## **Publications Committee**
The Society’s journal Criminology & Criminal Justice continued to be ably edited by the team from a consortia of Scottish universities, led by Michele Burman at Glasgow University, Laura Piacentini of Strathclyde and Margaret Malloch at Stirling. 2020 was the last year of the team’s very successful tenure and the BSC Publications Committee spent some time in the early part of lockdown reviewing the large number of very high-quality submissions we received from teams across the UK to succeed them. After a rather lengthier process than anticipated, a new consortium from Southampton and Cambridge Universities were chosen with Loraine Gelsthorpe, Anita Lavorgna and Pamela Ugwudike as editors-in-chief from January 2021. As well as the editorial team, we would like to extend our thanks to the reviewers for their prompt, rigorous and thoughtful reviews. The journal performed well across many metrics. Its 2019 Impact Factor (the latest available) was 1.809 ranking 20/69 in Criminology & Penology another increase and a significant one over the previous year.
The most downloaded article in 2020 was again ‘‘Just’ punishment? Offenders’ views on the meaning and severity of punishment’ by David Hayes and Esther FJC van Ginneken with 6,739 downloads.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
CCJ’s top Altmetric Score for Content Published in 2019-2020 is 97 for the article ‘Women’s behavior as implied consent: Male 'reasonableness' in Australian rape law’ by Rachel Burgin and Asher Flynn. This was in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric (all-time).
The BSC is currently exploring how the sending out of our journals could be greener by using compostable bags.
Two member newsletters were published in 2020, the first ‘Times of Crises’ themed on the 2020 crises, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on various aspects of crime and justice together with the specific issues around race and policing in the light of the murder of George Floyd with articles ‘COVID-19: A Positive Result for Online Recruitment to Extremist Organizations’ by Chantelle A. Cummings; ‘Domestic Violence and Access to Justice during COVID 19 in Trinidad and Tobago: Responses to domestic violence during crisis by the courts and its implications for access’ by Leah Cleghorn; ’Crises Colliding: COVID-19 and domestic abuse’ by Jo Roberts; ‘De-funding the Police in the UK’ by Jennifer Fleetwood and John Lea; and ‘Moving Beyond Crime and Punishment Narratives and Analyses: Critical Race Theory and Racial Specificity in Youth Justice’ by Esmorie Miller. The second focussed on what the new administration would bring for Crime and Justice in the USA and included articles ‘What the Future Holds for Crime and Justice in the U.S. under President Biden’ by Joanne Belknap and Alejandra Benita Portillos; ‘Between the End and the Beginning: Three Questions for American Criminal Justice After Trump and Before Biden’ by N. Prabha Unnithan; ‘Administrative Evil and the Use of Deadly Force in Law Enforcement’ by Richard Hough; ‘But What Did We Learn? Searching for Meaning in the Age of Trumpism’ by Alex Tepperman; and ’A cough, a call, and ‘butterfly effects’ of 2020: Reflection at the genesis of adulthood’ by Shawn Isaiah Mendez, with Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill.
The bi-monthly bulletin was sent to 99.5% of all members and the ‘open rate’ was just over 50% (60% of whom are located in the UK). Just over half of all readers of the bulletin opened it on a mobile device (one reason why we use a third-party – MailChimp – for sending out the bulletin because their platform is optimised for mobile viewing).
Due to the cancellation of the conference, ‘Papers from the British Criminology Conference’ was not published in 2020.
## **Financial review**
This year we have continued our policy of 'clarity in finance', to ensure that the Society's finances are presented in a transparent fashion so that the membership can easily ascertain the current financial position of the Society. To this end we have included detail on the nature of the expenditure and income streams of the Society, in particular the costs associated with the two membership journals. We have also included information in this section to further explain some of the figures in the financial report.
The Society's reported fund balances decreased slightly in 2020 from £149,456 at the end of 2019 to £145,905 at the end of 2020, a level still in keeping with the Society's regular expenditure plans and its reserves policy (see below). The decrease is much less than had originally been anticipated because of the substantial loss of income due to the cancellation of the conference, fears of a decrease in membership subscriptions at a time of financial crisis, and the impact of the open access agenda. Savings in venue hire, travel and subsistence due to the lockdown went some way to limit the damage but the BSC was also able to take advantage of the government’s Job Retention Scheme once it was extended to cover flexible and parttime furlough. It was not however possible to recover all expenditure already committed for cancelled events.
We worked hard to ensure that membership subscriptions remained solid at £69,000. Although the accounts suggest that membership is static, the stable income hides 25% flux and continued efforts to retain and attract members in the face of increasing competition introducing schemes to attract undergraduate and other groups.
We should also report the ongoing financial success of our journal _Criminology & Criminal Justice_ which saw the Society receive £33,000 in royalty income. In 2020, it cost around £30,000 to print member copies of the _British Journal of Criminology_ (a form of support for this prestigious journal to which the Society has historical links) and £11,000 for _Criminology & Criminal Justice._
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
Mindful of the current unpredictable financial climate, the Society has sought to review ongoing service commitments and through an increasingly streamlined record-keeping structure and administration sought to cut costs. The Trustees will be assessing the short, mid and long-term impacts of Covid-19 as part of their wider strategic planning and well adjust spending plans accordingly. This will be reviewed on a monthly basis for the duration of the crisis.
In summary, the finances throughout 2020 have remained reasonably healthy. The Society continues to improve its educative, research and policy-related interests and while ensuring the financial security of the Society wishes to continue to develop a project-based long-term strategy to ensure that funds are spent wisely to ensure the health of the discipline of criminology, for the benefit of our members and wider society (see below).
As ever, we would like to thank our Executive Director Dr Charlotte Harris for her excellent work assisted by Communications and Membership Coordinator Dr Helen Jones, in maintaining and finessing the Society’s infrastructure and administration while progressing policy and wider interests.
## **Policy for holding reserves**
The BSC has set its reserves at a level at least equivalent to three months’ operational expenditure and has done so having regards to its manner of operation and likely funding streams. The reserves level includes staff salary and pension costs and other general running costs on average based on median year-on-year increases, together with the potential for each of its regional groups and specialist networks to draw on the £1,000 annual budget agreed as policy, while acknowledging that many of them do not. The figure does not include the £5,144 designated funds which belong to the Youth Criminology/Youth Justice and Learning and Teaching Networks from sponsorship and profit from paid for events. The reserves amount also recognizes the imbalanced payment-due dates of some of its main payments – i.e. the printing costs of journals both fall due in the early months of the calendar year. The Society’s main income streams are variable in nature with fluctuation in membership subscriptions and particularly annual conference income demonstrated in accounting records from previous years (this is in part deliberate as while the Society wishes to host its conference in all parts of the UK it recognises that some geographical areas are more intrinsically attractive, especially to overseas delegates, than others). Obviously, this year has seen a zero income from the conference and the 2021 conference will also be online and non-profit making. Royalty income is again unpredictable in the next few years as the effects of the Government’s open access policy become apparent. The trustees will review the amount of reserves that are required to ensure that they are adequate to fulfil the charity’s continuing obligations on a quarterly basis at their executive meetings. The government has allowed some flexibility in the keeping of reserves in the light of the coronavirus pandemic and charities have been allowed to spend reserves in order to continue operating during the lockdown.
## **Future of the Society**
The Society relies on three main income streams – membership subscriptions, journal royalties and annual conference income – and each must be reviewed to ensure the continued financial health of the charity.
The Society has moved to a more proactive membership strategy. A membership recruitment drive was begun in 2016 starting with former members and reaching out to new groups such as undergraduates and practitioners. Increased numbers of members will both increase income but also make the Society more relevant and impactful in its dealings with policy and outfacing groups. We are negotiating with our partner publisher SAGE online access to five or six other SAGE criminology titles as part of a package with a view to offering an online-only membership option thus reducing print costs to those who really want a print copy of either our journal Criminology & Criminal Justice, or the British Journal of Criminology. The Society is working with other learned societies in monitoring and projecting the likely effects of the current global drive towards pushing academic publishing into completely open access models including the effect of this on royalty and other income. As a result of the 2020 pandemic and its financial impact across the board, we are currently pushing for the Open Access deadlines, to be pushed back further.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
We are continuously striving to improve our annual conference experience and make the BSC attractive in the face of increasing competition in this field. The Executive Committee is very aware of the costs of attending the Society’s conference and will be pursuing new ways to reduce fees and thereby increase access particularly to those who are deterred from attending by cost alone, while also addressing the needs of potential delegates in other respects. As we write this report on 2020 finances, we are looking forward to an online event in 2021 and we face a substantial loss in revenue. There is still an uncertain environment for 2022.
## **Structure, governance and management**
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
Prof B Goldson Dr H L Pierpoint Prof P A Squires (Resigned 31 July 2020) Prof A J Brimicombe Prof A Wahidin Dr R C Vipond Prof A Tseloni Prof P Davies Dr E C Seal Dr O Smith Prof J Treadwell Dr N B A Groombridge Prof S Walklate Dr J Smith Dr D C Churchill Dr K Strudwick Prof D Best Dr J W Heydon Miss C A O'Reilly (Resigned 22 March 2021) Dr C Phillips (Resigned 3 March 2020) Dr V Heap Dr M C Duggan Dr M Jones Dr A Parmar (Appointed 1 June 2020 and resigned 10 November 2020) Prof A E Millie (Appointed 24 June 2020) Dr J Price (Appointed 28 July 2020) Dr B Cole (Appointed 3 February 2021) Mrs G Gallacher (Appointed 22 March 2021)
The directors have conducted their own review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed and systems have been established to mitigate those risks. Significant external risks to funding have led to the development of a strategic plan, which will allow for the diversification of funding and activities. Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures of authorization of all transactions and projects and to ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the Society. These procedures are periodically reviewed to ensure that they still meet the needs of the Society. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our income and subsequent spending will be reviewed regularly.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)(INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
## **Prof S Walklate**
Trustee Dated: 14 July 2021
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT**
## **TO THE TRUSTEES OF BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of British Society of Criminology (the Society) for the year ended 31 December 2020.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the trustees of the Society (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the Society are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the Society’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
## **Independent examiner's statement**
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
- 1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the Society as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
- 2 the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
- 3 the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
- 4 the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
Shona Munday FCA UHY Hacker Young
PO Box 501 The Nexus Building Broadway Letchworth Garden City Herts SG6 9BL
Dated: 27 August 2021
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT**
## _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
||||||**Unrestricted **|**Designated**|**Designated**|**Total**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||**funds**||**funds**|**2020**|**2019**|
|||||**Notes**|**£**||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Income from:**||||||||||
|Donations and legacies||||**3**|9,563||-|9,563|-|
|Charitable activities||||||||||
|Conference income|||||-||-|-|27,232|
|Subscriptions|||||69,404||-|69,404|69,937|
|Journals income||||**4**|(18,645)||-|(18,645)|(16,691)|
|Investment income||||**5**|875||-|875|1,180|
|||||||||||
|**Total income**|||||61,197||-|61,197|81,658|
|||||||||||
|**Expenditure on:**||||||||||
|Raising funds|||||-||-|-|-|
|Charitable activities||||||||||
|Regional groups' spending||||**6**|581|||581|2,811|
|Prizes and sponsorship||||**6**|344||-|344|185|
|Support and governance costs||||**7**|61,719||-|61,719|70,166|
|Network expenses||||**6**|1,441||-|1,441|4,860|
|Post-grad committee||||**6**|663||-|663|213|
|Innovation fund||||**6**|-||-|-|1,463|
|||||||||||
|**Total charitable expenditure**|||||64,748||-|64,748|79,698|
|||||||||||
|**Total resources expended**|||||64,748||-|64,748|79,698|
|||||||||||
|**Net (expenditure)/income for the year/**||||||||||
|**Net movement in funds**|||||(3,551)||-|(3,551)|1,960|
|Fund balances|at 1 January 2020||||144,312||5,144|149,456|147,496|
|||||||||||
|**Fund balances at 31 December 2020**|||||140,761||5,144|145,905|149,456|
The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **BALANCE SHEET**
## _**AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
|||**2020**|||**2019**|**2019**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Notes**|**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**|
|**Current assets**|||||||
|Debtors|**11**|503||568|||
|Cash at bank and in hand||146,047||149,590|||
||||||||
|||146,550||150,158|||
|**Creditors: amounts falling due within**|||||||
|**one year**|**12**|(645)||(702)|||
||||||||
|Net current assets|||145,905|||149,456|
|**Income funds**|||||||
|Restricted funds|||5,144|||5,144|
|Unrestricted funds|||140,761|||144,312|
||||||||
||||145,905|||149,456|
For the year ending 31 December 2020 the company was entiltled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The Trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of accounts.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.
The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on 14 July 2021
Prof S Walklate
**Trustee**
## **Company Registration No. 03515512**
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
|||**2020**|||**2019**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Notes**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Cash flows from operating activities**||||||
|Cash (absorbed by)/generated from|**16**|||||
|operations|||(4,418)||10,031|
|**Investing activities**||||||
|Interest received||875||1,180||
|||||||
|**Net cash generated from investing**||||||
|**activities**|||875||1,180|
|**Net cash used in financing activities**|||-||-|
|||||||
|**Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash**||||||
|**equivalents**|||(3,543)||11,211|
|Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year|||149,590||138,379|
|||||||
|**Cash and cash equivalents at end of year**|||146,047||149,590|
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
## **1 Accounting policies**
## **Company information**
British Society of Criminology is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 10 Queen Street Place, London, EC4R 1BE.
## **1.1 Accounting convention**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Society's [governing document], the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)". The Society is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a true and fair view. This departure has involved following the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities applying FRS 102 rather than the version of the Statement of Recommended Practice which is referred to in the Regulations but which has since been withdrawn.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Society. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
## **1.2 Going concern**
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Society has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
## **1.3 Charitable funds**
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Designated funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the designated funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
## 1.4 **Incoming resources**
Income is recognised when the Society is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the Society has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Conference income is recognised in the period which the conference takes place.
Membership subscriptions are recognised in the period to which the subscription relates,
Turnover is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable and represents amounts receivable for goods and services provided in the normal course of business, net of discounts, VAT and other sales related taxes.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
## **1 Accounting policies**
## **(Continued)**
## 1.5 **Resources expended**
Resources expended are included in the Statement of Financial Activities on an accruals basis.
## **1.6 Cash and cash equivalents**
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments.
## **1.7 Financial instruments**
The Society has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the Society's balance sheet when the Society becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
## _**Basic financial assets**_
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
## _**Impairment of financial assets**_
Financial assets, other than those held at fair value through income and expenditure, are assessed for indicators of impairment at each reporting date. Financial assets are impaired where there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition of the financial asset, the estimated future cash flows have been affected.
If an asset is impaired, the impairment loss is the difference between the carrying amount and the present value of the estimated cash flows discounted at the asset’s original effective interest rate. The impairment loss is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.
If there is a decrease in the impairment loss arising from an event occurring after the impairment was recognised, the impairment is reversed. The reversal is such that the current carrying amount does not exceed what the carrying amount would have been, had the impairment not previously been recognised. The impairment reversal is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.
## _**Derecognition of financial assets**_
Financial assets are derecognised only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled, or when the Society transfers the financial asset and substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to another entity, or if some significant risks and rewards of ownership are retained but control of the asset has transferred to another party that is able to sell the asset in its entirety to an unrelated third party.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
## **1 Accounting policies**
## **(Continued)**
## _**Basic financial liabilities**_
Basic financial liabilities, including trade and other payables, accruals, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade payables are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Accounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade payables are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
## _**Derecognition of financial liabilities**_
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the Society’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
## **1.8 Employee benefits**
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the Society is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
## **1.9 Retirement benefits**
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
## **2 Critical accounting estimates and judgements**
In the application of the Society’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
## **3 Donations and legacies**
||**Unrestricted**|Total|
|---|---|---|
||**funds**||
||**2020**|2019|
||**£**|£|
|Donations and gifts|836|-|
|Job retention scheme grants|8,727|-|
||||
||9,563|-|
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)**
## _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
## **5 Investment income**
||**Unrestricted**|Unrestricted|
|---|---|---|
||**funds**|funds|
||**2020**|2019|
||**£**|£|
|Interest receivable|875|1,180|
- 23 -
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
## **7 Support costs**
|**Support costs**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Support**|
**Governance**|
**2020**|**2019**|
||**costs**|**costs**|||
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Staff, training and office costs|51,528|-|51,528|51,231|
|Travel expenses|593|-|593|3,848|
|Insurance|870|-|870|895|
|Printing, postage and stationery|686|-|686|1,249|
|Meeting venue hire|-|-|-|1,496|
|Bursaries|-|-|-|1,927|
|Telephone and fax|168|-|168|119|
|Subscriptions|1,048|-|1,048|1,731|
|Sundry expenses|48|-|48|48|
|Accountancy|-|4,380|4,380|4,320|
|Legal and professional|-|2,112|2,112|2,937|
|Bank charges|-|286|286|365|
||||||
||54,941|6,778|61,719|70,166|
The vast majority of time and expenditure relates to the provision of services to the society's members. It is therefore reasonable to allocate all support costs and governance costs to that activity as shown in note 6.
## **8 Trustees**
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration during the year.
## **9 Employees**
The average monthly number employees and consultants during the year was:
||**2020**|**2019**|
|---|---|---|
||**Number**|**Number**|
|Administration|2|2|
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and the Executive Director. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £31,751 (2019: £30,475).
There were no employees whose annual remuneration was £60,000 or more.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
|**10**|**Financial instruments**|||**2020**||**2019**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**£**||**£**|
||**Carrying amount of financial assets**||||||
||Debt instruments measured at amortised cost|||146,562||151,331|
||**Carrying amount of financial liabilities**||||||
||Measured at amortised cost|||645||702|
|**11**|**Debtors**||||||
|||||**2020**||**2019**|
||**Amounts falling due within one year:**|||**£**||**£**|
||Other debtors|||-||41|
||Prepayments and accrued income|||503||527|
||||||||
|||||503||568|
|**12**|**Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**||||||
|||||**2020**||**2019**|
|||||**£**||**£**|
||Accruals and deferred income|||645||702|
|**13**|**Analysis of net assets between funds**||||||
|||**Unrestricted**|
**Designated**|||**Total**|
|||**funds**||**funds**|||
|||**£**||**£**||**£**|
||Fund balances at 31 December 2020 are represented by:||||||
||Current assets/(liabilities)|140,761||5,144||145,905|
||||||||
|||140,761||5,144||145,905|
## **14 Events after the reporting date**
The Trustees have assessed the impact of Covid-19 which is not considered either to be an adjusting event in respect of the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020, nor of such significance to the Charity’s operations that there are any material matters to disclose in relation to it at this time. Naturally, the Trustees will be assessing the short, mid and long term impacts of Covid-19 as part of their wider strategic planning.
## **15 Related party transactions**
No guarantees have been given or received.
During the year the Trustees received expenses amounting to £570 (2019: £2,885). These expenses were reimbursed to cover travel and subsistence costs to attend Executive Committee meetings and run the committees and networks.
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## **BRITISH SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)** _**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020**_
|**16**|**Cash generated from operations**|**2020**|**2019**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|**£**|
||(Deficit)/surpus for the year|(3,551)|1,960|
||Adjustments for:|||
||Investment income recognised in statement of financial activities|(875)|(1,180)|
||Movements in working capital:|||
||Decrease in debtors|65|19,209|
||(Decrease) in creditors|(57)|(9,958)|
|||||
||**Cash (absorbed by)/generated from operations**|(4,418)|10,031|
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