Criminal justice reform communicators in England and Wales frequently come up against deeply held assumptions about why people commit crime, what the purpose of the criminal justice system is and should be, and how this system should be changed.

This report maps the similarities and differences between the messages that criminal justice experts and advocates wish to communicate, and the ways that members of the general public in England and Wales think about these issues.

The report also details the communication challenges that emerge from comparing these expert and public perspectives, and presents initial strategies to use in addressing communication challenges.

This is the first of two research reports produced by the FrameWorks Institute in collaboration with Transform Justice, the Standing Committee for Youth Justice and the Criminal Justice Alliance. The research is sponsored by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

This report is part of a larger project on reframing crime and justice. The project aims to design and test communication strategies that can be used to generate broader public support for actions that would prevent offending and reoffending, and increase public safety in England and Wales. For other publications in this project see our reframing page.