Behavioural Analytics in Policing Data-Driven Offender Management: Assessing the Evidence Base

This doctoral thesis explores the use of behavioural analytics and data-driven offender management within UK policing. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews with criminal justice practitioners who have been directly involved in the development of such projects, and a process evaluation of a major data-driven offender management project delivered by one of the UK’s largest police forces. The research explored the potential opportunities offered by new data-driven risk assessment tools, and sought to examine the barriers to successful implementation when the technology is deployed in an operational policing context. The process evaluation highlighted specific practical challenges associated with implementing a new data-driven system in an operational offender management context. The implications of these findings for future policing practice are explored, focussing on how such technology should be piloted and evaluated to assess its potential real-world benefits and limitations. The findings and discussion will be of interest to criminal justice practitioners and policymakers involved in developing or implementing new data-driven offender risk assessment tools in the UK criminal justice system