Stories and reflections from staff and students of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
By Francesca Soliman As contemporary forms of social control evolve, the scope of criminology keeps widening. For example, the criminalisation of migration has sparked a growing body of research on detention, non-citizens’ rights, and so on. As a criminology PhD student researching the harms of migration control, I welcome the attention these issues receive within … Continue reading Anything new under the sun?
By Sarah Armstrong, Director of SCCJR Where should transgender prisoners be housed? This question is in the news once again, with some calling for segregated wings for transgender people in prison. The issue is a complicated one entangling concepts of gender identity, risk, security, vulnerability and dignity. Two opposing themes are emerging in the trans … Continue reading Safety of, from or including transgender people in prison?
By James SCCJR Intern On Friday 29th June the Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research (SCCJR) hosted an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the McLeish Commission, who published the report, Scotland’s Choice: The Report of the Scottish Prisons Commission. The report contained 23 recommendations covering a range of criminal justice issues from … Continue reading Reflections on ‘Scotland’s Choice: 10 Years On From The Scottish Prisons Commission’ conference
by David Usman The recent industrial action by university academic staff in the UK was an interesting experience for me, coming from Nigeria where I hold a lecturer’s post in Sociology. In Nigeria, strike action has been used consistently by academic members of the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as a means of settling … Continue reading What do academic strikes look like in Nigeria? My experience as an SCCJR PhD researcher
By Alistair Fraser, Senior Lecturer, University of Glasgow When we think of organised crime thoughts turn inevitably to images from popular culture. If you are of a certain vintage it will be The Godfather or The Sopranos; for the Netflix generation it might be Breaking Bad or Narcos. A seedy-glamorous world of anti-heroes and outlaws, … Continue reading Why We Need to Change the Conversation about Serious Organised Crime
University of Edinburgh student Luis Reyes reflects on his short visit to the Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC), supported by the SCCJR International Mobility Fund: It was my first day in Leuven on a short, one week visit, and I was still feeling the effects of fatigue from the last-minute logistics planning my trip there. … Continue reading Looking at Leuven through another lens: Why local context is relevant in influencing policing…and beer?
By James SCCJR Intern On Monday 19th February, researchers held an event on the issue of employment and employability in Scottish prisons. The event was organised by SCCJR’s Laura Piacentini, Beth Weaver and Cara Jardine (all School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde) and consisted of three guest speakers, all of whom … Continue reading SCCJR Employment and Employability in Scotland’s Prisons: Working for Change? event and research briefing paper.
The Management of Offenders (Scotland) Bill has been introduced to the Scottish Parliament by Justice Secretary Michael Matheson. What are the Scottish Government proposing in this Bill and why? Dr Hannah Graham, an SCCJR criminologist at Stirling University, provides an overview. Continue reading Explainer: The Management of Offenders (Scotland) Bill, what it covers and why
By Fergus McNeill A paper that I’ve been tinkering around with for over a year has finally been published in Punishment and Society. Mass supervision, misrecognition in the ‘Malopticon’ has been a labour of love as it draws on two encounters with a Scottish man referred to as ‘Teejay’ and discusses what I learned from him … Continue reading BLANKFACE’ AND THE ‘MALOPTICON’
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