Publications

"Why is the Government anti-Marriage? Family Policy derived from strong evidence would lead to policies which supported Marriage" [28/12/2009]

"Order in the Courts: Restoring Trust through local justice" A Policy Report from the Courts and Sentencing Working Group [02/11/2009]
Executive Summary

ISBN 978-0-9562088-4-2

"Dynamic Benefits: Towards Welfare That Works" A Policy Report by the CSJ Economic Dependency Working Group [16/09/2009]

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Download the complete Full Report in three small portions:

Full Report, Introductions and Part I [ 1.9MB]

Full Report, Parts II and III [3.53MB]

Full Report, Appendices [3.15MB]

Executive Summary

Preface by Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP

Published in association with management consultancy firm Oliver Wyman, this 370-page report presents a review of the UK benefits system and proposals for a radical recasting of state support for the jobless and low-paid.

The policy proposals in Dynamic Benefits would result in 600,000 households coming off welfare dependency and into work, boost the incomes of the lowest paid by nearly £5 billion and help move more than 200,000 children out of poverty. The overhaul will make welfare spending predictable and promote a culture of working rather than not working.

Dynamic Benefits is the most far-reaching review of the UK welfare system in 60 years.

"Every Family Matters" A Policy Report by the Family Law Review [13/07/2009]
Executive Summary

The CSJ report Breakthrough Britain documented how family breakdown was deeply detrimental to children’s life chances and the wellbeing of adults. Every Family Matters is a comprehensive 320 page analysis of the impact of English family law on family life.

The review makes 131 recommendations which will ensure that the law does not contribute to family breakdown but, rather, supports stable and healthy families. The recommendations are in the following areas: relationship support, pre-marriage information and preparation, pre-marital agreements, domestic violence, mediation services, divorce law, post-divorce settlements and financial provision, legal aid, international families, as well as the rights of the extended family.

ISBN 978-0-9562088-2-4

"Family Law Review: Faster Divorce and Foreign Law"  An interim report from the Family Law Review [27/04/2009]

This 24 page report from experts within the family law background look to challange the divorce trend that has been reinforced by the European Court. The paper looks at four major themes:

• Remove lis pendens from European Family Law which encourages international couples to rush the divorce court to gain financial advantage over each other
• Keep individual countries' own family law rather than a universal law imposed by Brussels
• The country with the closest connection to the international couple should deal with the proceedings
• Encourage Brussels to slow down its programme of European Family Law reform to take in to account traditions of family life and law around Europe.

"A Force to be Reckoned With" A Policy Report by the Police Reform Working Group [30/03/2009]
Executive Summary

This 153 page report draws on interviews with the public, experts, and Police Forces around the country and makes 26 policy recommendations to renew the Police Service's unique history of localism and 'policing by consent'. The three core recommendations of the report are:

• Interventionist Neighbourhood Teams with a commitment to intervene
• An elected Crime and Justice Commissioner for every Police Force area
• Police training for discretion and Restorative Justice

"Locked Up Potential: a strategy for reforming prisons and rehabilitating prisoners" [23/02/2009]
Executive Summary

This 276 page report provides a comprehensive analysis of and 70 policy recommendations for our failing prison system, including: prison management and governance; overcrowding; mental health and substance abuse; prisoners’ families; personal development through education, training, work and the arts; prisoners and their victims; resettlement, and three proposed new Acts of Parliament.

The three core recommendations of the report are:

• Localising the management of the prison system by abolishing the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and replacing it with a network of Community Prison and Rehabilitation Trusts (CPRTs).
• Scrapping the Titan prison programme and reinvesting part of the budget to build five recommended new Mitson Academy model prisons.
• Revolutionising prison rehabilitation to reduce re-offending and its annual £12 billion cost.

"Dying to Belong: An In-Depth Review of Street Gangs in Britain" [12/02/2009]
Executive Summary

228 page report which analyses the true nature and scale of gang culture in Britain. It looks at who is involved and what they are involved in; how Britain has reached this point; and what society can do to tackle it. Highlighting and learning from models of best practice in both the UK and America Dying to Belong sets out a blueprint for tackling Britain’s growing gang problem. It covers:

• The immediate response to prevent violence and break up gangs
• Medium-term proposals for building trust and positive relations between the police and young people
• A long-term approach to prevent future generations of young people from becoming gang-involved

ISBN 978-0-9556999-7-9

"Asylum Matters: Restoring Trust in the UK Asylum System" [15/12/2008]
Executive Summary

105 page report analysing the problems faced by asylum seekers in bureaucratic limbo pending outcomes. Recommendations to ensure a fairer asylum system that lead to fairer outcomes and respect the dignity of those seeking asylum.

ISBN 978-0-9556999-6-2

"Getting in Early: Primary Schools and Early Intervention." [02/12/2008]

Co-published with the Smith Institute, edited by Jean Gross, this paper continues the joint work between Iain Duncan Smith (CSJ Chairman) and Graham Allen (Labour MP for Nottingham North) promoting cross-party consensus on early intervention. This paper focuses on primary schools and the need to intervene as early as possible in order to break the circle of disadvantage in a child’s life.

ISBN 1-905370-41-5

"Housing Poverty" Housing and Dependency Report [02/12/2008]
Executive Summary

The 134 page report charts how many of the stable and prosperous working class communities of the 1960s and 1970s have degenerated into sink estates trapping their tenants into lives on benefits from which few ever escape. It proposes incentives designed to reduce welfare dependency and enable the poorest families to begin to acquire assets and join the mainstream of society.

ISBN 978-0-9556999-5-5

Family Law Review Interim Report [17/11/08]
Executive Summary

How the law, legal procedures and processes and ancillary functions might better support, and encourage, various beneficial institutions or pro-social norms.

"Early Intervention: Good Parents. Great Kids. Better Citizens" [second eddition: 07/05/09]
First Edition [12/09/2008]

Boosting the life chances of deprived children aged 0 to 3, tackling social problems before they begin and breaking an intergenerational cycle of underachievement.

ISBN 978-0-9556999-3-1

"The Next Generation Report" Early Years Commission Report [08/09/2008]
Executive Summary

The level of stimulation, nurture and empathy an infant receives profoundly shapes a person's ability to enter into all future relationships. This report emphasizes the importance of these years and advocates an intervention strategy which requires helping parents to get it right at the antenatal, postnatal and infant stages, long before such help is typically available.

ISBN 978-0-9556999-2-4

"Couldn't Care Less" Children In Care Report [08/09/2008]
Executive Summary

This report addresses the current state of the care system for children in the UK where those children in care on average do very badly compared to other children.

ISBN 978-0-9556999-3-1

"Fathers Not Included: A Response to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill" [18/05/2008]
Executive Summary

This report explores the implications of proposed legislation on assisted reproduction, most notably the need to remove the legal need for a father in the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

"Breakthrough London" [11/04/2008]

Breakthrough London draws attention to the significantly above average national levels of family breakdown, addiction, economic dependencyand worklessness, educational failure and personal debt in the Capital and the worrying trends in youth and gang crime. It outlines policy solutions for their remedy.

"Breakthrough Glasgow" [05/02/2008]

Describing a 'Tale of Two Cities', Breakthrough Glasgow draws attention to the peculiarly entrenched poverty found in Glasgow. An honest assessment is required in order to ensure Breakthrough policies that will reverse the high levels of worklessness, addiction and gang crime found in the city.

"Breakthrough Birmingham" [05/12/2007]

Birmingham tops the leagues for worklessness in Britain's provincial cities. This report examines the figures for this and other areas of deprivation, the failure of national policies that have contributed to this situation and policy proposals to reverse breakdown.

"Breakthrough Manchester" [08/11/2007]

Fewer than one in three Manchester teenagers gain five or more good GCSE passes, according to this major new survey of social breakdown in the city carried out by the Centre for Social Justice headed by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith.

"Breakthrough Britain" Chairman's Overview [04/07/2007]

The Social Justice Policy Group (SJPG) was commissioned by the Rt Hon David Cameron MP, Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition, in January 2006 to make policy recommendations to the Conservative Party on issues of social justice. The SJPG was chaired by the Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, former leader of the Conservative Party and Chairman of the Centre for Social Justice, with Deputy Chairman Debbie Scott, Chief Executive of Tomorrow's People.  The Policy Group's Secretariat was hosted by the Centre for Social Justice. "Breakthrough Britain: Ending the Costs of Social Breakdown" presents over 190 policies to reverse social breakdown and builds on the analysis of the State of the Nation presented in "Breakdown Britain."

ISBN 978-0-9556999-0-0

"Breakthrough Britain: Addictions" [04/07/2007]
Executive Summary: "Breakthrough Britain: Addictions"

"Breakthrough Britain: Debt" [10/07/2007]
Executive Summary: "Breakthrough Britain: Debt"

"Breakthrough Britain: Economic Dependency and Worklessness" [10/07/2008]
Executive Summary: "Breakthrough Britain: Economic Dependency and Worklessness"

"Breakthrough Britain: Educational Failure" [10/07/2007]
Executive Summary: "Breakthrough Britain: Educational Failure"

"Breakthrough Britain: Family Breakdown" [10/07/2007]
Executive Summary: "Breakthrough Britain: Family Breakdown"

"Breakthrough Britain: Gambling" [10/07/2007]

"Breakthrough Britain: Third Sector" [10/07/2007]
Executive Summary: "Breakthrough Britain: Third Sector"

Causes of Crime Report [02/2007]
In the face of recent killings and violent gun crime in south London, "Being Tough on the Causes of Crime: Tackling Family Breakdown to Prevent Youth Crime" examines the impact that growing up in a fatherless household and family breakdwon has on children. Plus potential policy solutions drawing from successful overseas examples.

"Breakdown Britain: Executive Summary" [14/12/2006]

A 300,000 word Interim Report from the Social Justice Policy Group. This State of the Nation report describes the five multi-causal drivers of poverty in Britain today plus a paper on the potential of the Voluntary Sector for its remedy.

ISBN 978-0-9556999-1-7

"What Price Credit?" The Griffiths Commission on Personal Debt [03/2005]

For many, if not most people in the UK, being in debt has become a way of life. Over the past 30 years, the consumer credit industry has been remarkably resourceful in devising new products to meet changing consumer needs. At the same time, personal household debt having reached a record of £1 trillion, it has become a major issue of public concern.

The rapid growth in consumer debt has created financial pressure on individuals and families; led to a greater use of enforcement procedures; and a record demand for debt advice.

Against this background, the Commission on Personal Debt was established by the Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP in April last year as an independent body. He asked the Commission to gather first-hand evidence about the way in which families get into debt-spirals and to identify means by which these families can best be helped.

Good for me, good for my neighbour [01/05/2005]
'Good for me, good for my neighbour' describes a hard-headed but compassionate agenda that reaches the many voters who, in recent years, have lost confidence in the Conservative Party's commitment to govern for the whole nation.

The paper is authored by Iain Duncan Smith and Danny Kruger.

Freedom, dignity and slavery in the modern world [24/01/2005]
On 24th January 2005, William Hague MP addressed the subject of human slavery in the CSJ's First Abraham Lincoln Address.

Whatever happened to compassionate conservatism? [01/11/2004]
On 1st November 2005, one day before George W Bush was re-elected as US President, the CSJ published an analysis of four years of compassionate conservatism. Tim Montgomerie concluded that George W Bush had made less progress on poverty reduction than Rudy Guiliani, Newt Gingrich and other reforming Republicans.

Britain's conservative majority [01/12/2004]
In December 2004 Iain Duncan Smith argued that a majority of Britons still held small 'c' conservative views on poverty, family life and child welfare. IDS wrote his 'Britain's conservative majority' pamphlet following conservative electoral successes in Australia and America.