The Solutions Lab

AI Deep Dive - The Ontological Myth of Evil

The philosophical question of whether evil exists as a real force in the world or merely as a descriptive label we apply to harmful acts might seem abstract and removed from practical policy concerns. However, this metaphysical assumption profoundly shapes how societies approach crime prevention, punishment, and social intervention. When evil is conceived as an ontological reality - a genuine force or inherent quality that exists independently of social conditions - it legitimises punishment-focused responses that treat offenders as fundamentally different from law-abiding citizens. This worldview supports populist "tough on crime" policies whilst obscuring the systemic vulnerabilities that actually drive criminalised behaviour.

Deep Dive AI Audio - Preventing Criminalisation Through Violence-Informed Approaches

We advocate for violence-informed approaches to crime prevention in the UK, moving beyond traditional methods to consider violence as a deliberate action within social contexts. It builds on trauma-informed frameworks but focuses more explicitly on social determinants like economic inequality, social exclusion, and educational disadvantage as root causes of both violence and criminalisation. The approach emphasises recognising victim resistance, the impact of social responses, and the power of language in shaping perceptions of violence. It proposes strategies like contextual analysis, addressing social determinants, reframing narratives, and transforming institutional responses through an intersectional lens to prevent criminalisation, particularly within marginalised communities.

Deep Dive AI Audio: Criminal Justice Reform - Politics, Policing and Post-Apartheid South Africa

An AI generated conversation about Heidi Sauls observations on the purpose of policing

Deep Dive AI Audio - Neurodivergence in the Justice System

When our prisons become repositories for the neurodivergent, it represents not only a failure of justice but a fundamental misunderstanding of human difference. The statistics are clear: we have effectively criminalised neurological variation. What remains unclear is when we will summon the political courage to recognise this institutional bias and act accordingly.

Deep Dive AI Audio - Beyond Binary Thinking

"The pathways to criminality resemble an intricate combination lock - complex, unpredictable, yet vulnerable to disruption through preventive scaffolding. We cannot predict which specific alignment of adversities will unlock harmful behaviour in any individual, but we can systematically introduce protective factors that prevent these alignments from occurring. This is not just good practice; it is our moral obligation to every child..."

Deep Dive AI Audio - Final Destination

"The greatest mistake in our approach to crime is believing that criminality exists in isolation from the social ecosystem that produces it. We cannot meaningfully separate the offender from the conditions of deprivation, exclusion and trauma that shaped their journey through our systems." - Professor Stan Gilmour
The question of free will has long troubled philosophers, but recent advances in neuroscience, as articulated by Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, carry profound implications for our understanding of crime and justice. Sapolsky's work suggests that our actions, criminal or otherwise, are determined by a complex web of biological, developmental and environmental factors spanning "one second before to a million years before."
In the UK, where prison populations have reached record highs and reoffending rates remain stubbornly elevated, these scientific insights should prompt a fundamental reconsideration of our approach to crime. The prevailing narrative of personal responsibility continues to dominate our criminal justice system, despite mounting evidence that socioeconomic and neurobiological factors play decisive roles in criminal behaviour.

Deep Dive AI Audio - Crime as a Symptom

Imagine trying to unlock a safe with not just one combination lock, but five concentric dials, each containing at least ten numbers. The mathematical complexity is staggering - 100,000 possible combinations.
Now imagine that these dials are constantly shifting, influencing one another, and responding to external forces in unpredictable ways. This is the reality of how risk factors for criminalisation operate across individual, family, peer, community and societal domains.
This Deep Dive examines how crime is a flag for deeper symptoms.