THE PEOPLE’S INQUIRY IS TAKING SHAPEA RESEARCH FRAMEWORK BUILT FOR SCRUTINYThe People’s Inquiry into the IPP Sentence is moving towards a finalised research proposal. Its design continues to develop through guidance and critical feedback from leading UK academics, alongside the knowledge of people directly affected by IPP. The latest proposal brings a sharper focus to a central question: how have political choices, institutional records and decisions about risk, care and release shaped people’s liberty, safety and lives—and what changes would prevent further harm? At its heart is a decision-and-information audit. The Inquiry will examine how a consequential claim was first recorded, what evidence supported it, how it travelled through institutional systems, whether it could be corrected or challenged, and how it influenced later decisions. This approach connects lived experience with documentary evidence. Interviews will be considered alongside lawfully obtained records, policy documents, parliamentary material, legal decisions and relevant oversight findings. The research will distinguish first-hand testimony from reported accounts, identify disputed or missing evidence, and avoid treating a claim copied between records as independent corroboration. The Inquiry will test competing explanations and examine safeguards that worked as well as those that failed. Its findings must emerge from the evidence. SAFEGUARDING, CONSENT AND INDEPENDENCEA robust ethical and safeguarding framework is integral to this work. The developing protocol provides for accessible participant information, voluntary and continuing consent, clear confidentiality limits and defined withdrawal arrangements. Participants will be able to decline questions, take breaks or end an interview. Consent to research participation will be kept separate from consent to recording, quotation, public identification or media involvement. Confidential research testimony must never become publicity by default. Secure data handling, restricted access, researcher training and clear responses to distress or serious disclosures are being built into the programme. Relevant ethical review and lawful access permissions must be in place before the corresponding interviews proceed. The Inquiry’s approach to neuroscience and neuropsychology will be equally disciplined. It will examine relevant evidence without inferring a clinical diagnosis or brain injury from an interview or a person’s time in custody. Any future clinical research would require its own qualified leadership, consent process and approvals. Technology and AI will be examined as subjects of scrutiny—including questions of bias, explainability and accountability in justice systems. Identifiable testimony will not be entered into general-purpose AI tools. PREPARING THE FIRST FIVE PILOT INTERVIEWSWe are preparing five pilot interviews intended to include: three people whom have had their IPP sentence terminated one affected family member of a person serving an IPP sentence one survivor of crime or professional
Subject to the necessary permissions and safeguards, these pilots will test the interview process, consent materials, accessibility, participant wellbeing, evidence recording and analysis before wider recruitment begins. The National Lived Experience and Survivors Justice Council will help shape the questions, identify overlooked harms and test emerging recommendations. Its purpose is meaningful influence over the Inquiry’s work, with no expectation that anyone endorse a predetermined position. The Intercontinental Youth Justice Manifesto will evolve through the pilot interviews, evidence analysis and the guidance of the National Lived Experience and Survivors Justice Council, with wider youth participation shaping its development. By connecting lived experience with research, it will turn emerging findings into proposals for accountability, reparation and lasting institutional change—advancing transformative youth justice transnationally so no young person is defined forever by the worst moment of their young life. EXPLORE THE PEOPLE’S INQUIRY OUR INQUIRY TEAM IS GROWINGWe are pleased to confirm that the following roles have been secured: Inquiry Chair; Lead Researcher; Executive Director and Head of Communications; Senior Forensic Psychology Adviser; Director of Media and Public Advocacy; and National Lived Experience and Survivors Council Lead.
We are also in consultation with senior legal advisers, consultant clinical neuropsychologists, consultant forensic neuropsychiatrists and academic expert advisers as we finalise the wider team. This developing structure brings research, lived experience, specialist advice and public accountability into a common programme of work. JOIN THE INQUIRYVOLUNTARY INQUIRY SECRETARYWe are seeking a highly organised, discreet and dependable voluntary Inquiry Secretary to work directly with the team. This is a central role in making the Inquiry work: coordinating diaries and meetings, arranging travel, maintaining interview schedules and participant lists securely, tracking agreed actions and helping the team communicate clearly. The role requires careful attention to confidentiality, sensitive communication and reliable administration. It offers close involvement in a developing national inquiry with a strong human rights focus. To express interest, please send a brief introduction outlining your relevant experience and availability. EXPRESS INTEREST IN THE SECRETARY ROLE FIVE STUDENT RESEARCHER OPPORTUNITIESWe are building a supervised team of five student researchers to contribute to an ambitious examination of criminal justice, institutional power and human rights. We welcome critical thinkers across law, criminology, psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, human development and AI and technology ethics. Researchers will help examine how evidence becomes an institutional judgment: how risk is described, how records acquire authority, how decisions can be challenged and how human rights can be protected as justice systems adopt new technologies. The programme will combine grounded research on IPP with relevant international perspectives. With training and supervision, students will contribute to literature reviews, documentary analysis, interview preparation, evidence tracing and analysis. This is an opportunity to develop rigorous research skills while contributing to work with direct public significance. Respect for participants, intellectual independence and a willingness to question assumptions will be essential. EXPRESS INTEREST IN STUDENT RESEARCH WATCH THE ADVERT THANK YOU FOR HELPING BUILD THIS WORK Thank you to everyone who donated during September, subscribed to the briefing or shared our campaign. Your support helps us turn a developing proposal into a properly organised inquiry. Funding is needed for secure research systems, accessible participation, travel, transcription, safeguarding arrangements and the preparation and publication of the findings. The Inquiry’s launch date will be announced once the essential preparations are sufficiently advanced. We will keep supporters informed as the research framework, permissions and operational arrangements progress. If you can donate, please support the People’s Inquiry. If you cannot donate, sharing the crowdfunder is a valuable way to help. Every contribution—and every introduction to someone who may support the work—helps us build the foundations for an independent, credible and accountable inquiry. FUND THE PEOPLE’S INQUIRY SHARE THE CROWDFUNDER IPP COMMITTEE IN ACTION FAMILY-LED • EVIDENCE-BASED • FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE Campaign information and public education—not individual legal advice. Forward this briefing to someone who should be part of the conversation. SUBSCRIBE TO THE IPP ACTION BRIEFING
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