Stories and reflections from staff and students of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
By Dr Louise Brangan, University of Stirling Why do societies punish as they do? And why do these systems of punishment change, sometimes dramatically? This study will explore these theoretical and historical questions by pursuing an original perspective, examining the mass decarceration of women and girls in the Republic of Ireland between 1970-1998. In 1950s … Continue reading Mass Decarceration: A critical social history
By Dr Jamie Buchan and Dr Scott Grant Situating Scotland’s approach to community justice alongside our European neighbours is something that deserves more press in political and academic circles. In 2018 we accepted the offer to update a comprehensive chapter on Scottish ‘probation’ for the Confederation of European Probation (CEP) – previously completed in 2008. … Continue reading Community Justice: An Opportunity to ‘Re-integrate’?
By Richard Kjellgren As I write the first sentence of this blog post, I officially entered Year 2 of my PhD, and it dawned on me that it has been 217 days since I last set my foot inside my cosy office at the University of Stirling. As we all do our best to adapt … Continue reading Reflections from an increasingly digitalised criminology student
By Nicola Ceesay *This blog was originally published by Scotland in Lockdown Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak I have worked within the residential childcare sector alongside a devoted staff team to provide care and support for a small group of young people. Children and young people are placed in residential care when there … Continue reading Covid & care experienced young people
By Ross Gibson As a youth justice social worker in Glasgow I worked with children within, or on the fringes of, secure care. They experienced such a high risk of harm that their lives, or lives of those around them, were frequently in danger. This often included acts of violence, absconding, drug abuse and other … Continue reading Giving Voice to Children in Secure Care
Effects on those who deliver services to justice involved populations By Prof Michele Burman, Prof Robin A. Robinson and Dr Annie Crowley Although largely out of government and media frames of ‘essential workers’, and within a wider context of rapidly diminishing resources and precarious funding, many community-based voluntary organisations working with criminal justice-involved groups are … Continue reading Working Under Lockdown
By Professor Laura Piacentini, University of Strathclyde On hearing the Scottish government announcement, made on the 18th of March, that schools in Scotland would close indefinitely from the 20th of March, and that we would then enter a period of lockdown because of the epic human catastrophe called Covid-19, I entered a period of what … Continue reading Living Under Covid-19
Domestic abuse and sexual violence: the responses and realities provoked by COVID-19 By Dr Oona Brooks-Hay, Prof Michele Burman & Dr Lisa Bradley, University of Glasgow The new social reality imposed by COVID-19 brings particular concerns for women and children living with domestic abuse and sexual violence, and for the support services that they rely … Continue reading Gender Based Violence in a Pandemic
By Prof Fergus McNeill, University of Glasgow With prisons described by epidemiologists as incubators of disease, it is obvious and entirely right that much of the focus of criminologists and other criminal justice activists in recent weeks has been on the urgent need to decarcerate. The challenges and opportunities for social work services have also … Continue reading Penal supervision in a pandemic
