Dr Lawrence Newport

Crush Crime Campaigner

In just two years, Dr Lawrence Newport has proven himself to be a quietly influential figure.

While working as a law lecturer, Lawrence came to prominence in 2023 when he published the now-viral article, “Why are so many children dying to dogs in the UK?”
As the issue gained momentum, he spearheaded the campaign to ban XL Bully dogs in the UK. By February 2024, owning one without a valid exemption became a criminal offence, demonstrating his efficacy.

Later, he founded Crush Crime, a campaign organisation focused on criminal justice reform, data-driven analysis, and ending repeat offending, and publicly criticised the UK’s revolving-door justice system and pushed for tougher sentencing for career criminals.

Why did we invite him on?

Since establishing himself as “de facto leader of the campaign to ban the XL Bully” (The New Statesman), he has become an insistent voice in the anti-crime movement, even earning the ear of one Dominic Cummings.

We’ve been following his work, and as the problems he’s combating continue to worsen, his position has become increasingly compelling. We wanted to know more, so we invited him to come on and speak about his efforts and address precisely how serious the issue is.

What did we learn?

When you look at the crime statistics of Britain’s major cities, it’s easy to become paranoid. The rates are such that it doesn’t feel unreasonable to start seeing everyone as a potential threat. As Lawrence points out, this is irrational - the vast majority of citizens are law-abiding and present no reason for alarm. However, those who aren’t law-abiding present more reason for alarm than we already think. Much more.

”Over the last 20 years, about 9% of criminals are responsible for half of all crime. These are people with 15 offences to their name - and that’s just what’s proven. And evidence suggests that for every offence someone is convicted of, they’ve committed an average of 25 others. You start multiplying that up, and these are serious numbers.”

So what happens to these career criminals? If we’re aware of their actions, and we know they’re likely committing more than can be prosecuted, what’s the solution? What are the police doing?

”Not much. Not much happens at all. We’ve found that these career criminals are more likely to avoid prison now than they were in 2007 - many of them are simply not getting jail sentences at all. Some of them aren’t getting jail sentences on their 300th offence.”

For someone to rack up numbers like that and not face serious consequences, these can’t be “serious” crimes. We’ve got to be talking about petty theft and the like. Far from ideal, not conducive to a functioning society, but maybe we shouldn’t worry too much.

Lawrence doesn’t think so - the individual crimes may be petty, but the scale is not. He explains that these phone thefts are not mere acts of pick-pocketing, but just one cog in a larger criminal organisation. An international network of organised crime: