Evidence
Research assistant
Tool update · v21One tool, three depths. Search the open research record straight — no AI, instant. Get an overview — the assistant reads what a search found and tells you what to open first. Or commission a full research review: the assistant researches your question from several angles, curates the strongest studies, and writes a cited report — what the prior research says, how strong it is, real-world examples, the legal context to check, and next steps — downloadable as a PDF. Every claim is pinned to a study you can open and read.
Pick your depth
A straight search of the research catalogues, a quick AI overview of what a search found, or a full research review — you choose how deep to go.
It does the legwork
For a review, the assistant splits your question into angles, searches several catalogues — OpenAlex, Crossref, Europe PMC and more — plus UK official sources, and curates the strongest studies.
Get a cited report
What the prior research says, how strong it is, real-world examples, the legal and policy context to check, and next steps — every claim pinned to a study, downloadable as a branded PDF.
From an example review
Research review
How do we cut repeat domestic-abuse victimisation in our area?
Evidence: mixedWhat the prior research says
Repeat victimisation is concentrated and predictable: a small share of victims account for a large share of calls, and risk is highest in the weeks after an incident [1]. Focused deterrence and structured risk-assessment approaches show promise, but trials are few and effects vary by how faithfully they’re delivered [2][3].
Next steps and ideas to think about
Target the post-incident window with a named contact and a clear safety plan; measure repeat calls at 4 and 8 weeks rather than arrests alone [1]. Pilot with one team before scaling, and track fidelity — the effect lives in the delivery [3].
Example only — synthesised from abstracts, not full papers. Your review cites the real studies it finds, and downloads as a PDF.
Sign in to use the research assistant
It’s free. Create a password or use Google. Your reviews save to your account, and you can share any of them with a read-only link.
Recent briefings — kept on this device for 30 days
Ask it like a question. The assistant turns it into a scholarly search, reads what comes back, and tells you what it adds up to — and which studies to open first.
Search by keywords — e.g. hot spots policing, body-worn cameras, procedural justice. Results come straight from the catalogues — for a plain-English question, use Overview instead.
Refine sources & filters
Browse topics +−
Prevention & places
People & legitimacy
Technology
Harms
Organisation & workforce
Results come from OpenAlex, Crossref, Europe PMC and the GOV.UK search API — open catalogues of the scholarly record plus UK official publications. That includes the journals behind SAGE, Taylor & Francis and the other big publishers (their records and abstracts flow into these catalogues). The Preprints facet searches early-research servers such as CrimRxiv, SSRN and SocArXiv — the most current work, but not yet peer reviewed, so weigh it accordingly. Free-copy availability is topped up via Unpaywall. "Free copy" links go to publisher or repository versions; quality varies and inclusion here is not endorsement. Weigh the study, not the headline. Overviews and reviews are synthesised from abstracts, not verdicts — and their legal pointers need verifying. Read the studies.
Evidence databases
Curated and rated collections — slower than a search, but someone has already weighed the studies for you. Most have no machine interface, so they live here as links rather than in the search above.
- College of Policing — Crime Reduction Toolkit →
Summaries of the best available evidence on what works to reduce crime, rated for effect, mechanism, context and cost.
- Global Policing Database →
Searchable database of experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of policing interventions, worldwide, since 1950.
- Campbell Collaboration — Crime and Justice →
Open-access systematic reviews of what works in crime and justice.
- CrimeSolutions (US National Institute of Justice) →
American ratings of programmes and practices — effective, promising or no effects — with the evidence behind each rating.
- College of Policing — Research →
The College's research programme: evidence gap maps, the What Works Centre and current projects.
- Society of Evidence Based Policing (SEBP) →
UK practitioner network for evidence-based policing — guides, training and events, much of it in the members' hub.
- American Society of Evidence-Based Policing →
SEBP's US counterpart — practitioner-led resources, conferences and research translation.
- Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy (George Mason) →
Home of the Evidence-Based Policing Matrix — field experiments mapped by what they tested and found.
- CrimRxiv →
Open criminology preprints and papers, free to read. Also indexed by the search on this site's research page.