Community Safety Recommended Reading List

We believe in evidence based policy in community safety focused on prevention.

Academic and other research is one extremely useful resource for community safety practitioners and other professionals working in community safety.

But we feel it would be remiss not to also see books, including literature, as another hugely important resource in shaping policy and changing attitudes around many community safety issues.

On this page, we compile what we think is a useful reading list for anyone working in community safety or towards building safer communities.

We hope you enjoy some of our suggestions!

Title	Author	Category	Main Topics
Chavs	Owen Jones	Non Fiction	Poverty, Class, Inequality
The Spirit Level: why equality is better for everyone	Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett	Non Fiction	Inequality, economics, policy
The Health Gap	Professor Michael Marmot	Non Fiction	Health inequality, inequality, public health
Drugs Without the Hot Air	Prof David Nutt	Non Fiction	Drugs, War on Drugs, Drug Policy
The Body Keeps the Score	Bessel van der Kolk	Non Fiction	Trauma, health
When the Body Says No	Gabor Mate	Non Fiction	Trauma, stress, health
A Sense of Freedom	Jimmy Boyle	Non Fiction	Prison, Crime Prevention, Rehabilitation of Offenders
Euphoric Recall	Aidan Martin	Non Fiction	Addiction, drugs, trauma
Resurrection	Leo Tolstoy	Fiction	Penal Reform
Discipline & Punish	Michel Foucault	Non Fiction	Punishment, Penal Reform
The Good Prison Officer: Inside Perspectives	Andi Brierly	Non Fiction	Prisons
The Ten Percent	Simon McLean	Non Fiction	Policing
Chasing the Scream	Johann Hari	Non Fiction	War on Drugs, Drugs Policy
Of Boys and Men	Richard Reeves	Non Fiction	Male role models, male violence
Revolting Prostitutes	Juno Mac, Molly Smith	Non Fiction	Sex workers
A Brief History of Misogyny	Jack Holland	Non Fiction	Misogyny, VAWG
Enough: The violence against women and how to end it	Harriet Johnson	Non Fiction	VAWG
Poverty Safari	Darren McGarvey	Non Fiction	Poverty, Inequality, Community
The Ballad of Reading Gaol	Oscar Wilde	Poetry	Prisons, Penal Reform
The Myth of Normal: Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture	Dr Gabor Mate	Non Fiction	Trauma, Health & Wellbeing, Addiction
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts	Dr Gabor Mate	Non Fiction	Drugs, Addiction, Trauma
Stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity	Erving Goffman	Non Fiction	Stigma
Straight Jacket	Matthew Todd	Non Fiction	LGBTI, Trauma, Addiction
Waking the Tiger, Healing the Trauma	Peter Levine	Non Fiction	Trauma
Governing Police Stops Across Europe	Sofie de Kimpe	Non Fiction	Policing