A Sentence with No End? The Order for Lifelong Restriction
Just Humans
In this episode I talk to Nicola Ceesay and Dr Marguerite Schinkel about Order for Lifelong Restrictions (OLR) in Scotland and the realities of living with a sentence that feels like it has no end. Nicola, who has spent the last few years researching the Order for Lifelong Restriction as part of her PhD thesis, explains why these sentences exist, and she tell us about the impact they’ve had on the people who are serving them. Joining Nicola is Dr Marguerite Schinkel, a senior lecturer in Criminology at the University of Glasgow, who talks about her involvement in a social media campaign...
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The Barlinnie Special Unit: Art, Punishment and Innovation
Just Humans
In this episode our host Rachelle Cobain talks to Dr Kirstin Anderson about a new book she’s edited called 'The Barlinnie Special Unit: Art, Punishment and Innovation'. Kirstin is a Lecturer in Criminology at Edinburgh Napier University and has spent a large part of her career teaching music in schools, universities and in prisons. She’s now turned her attention to the history and legacy of the Barlinnie Special Unit, which was a small therapeutic unit that opened in 1973 as a way of managing long term prisoners and violent offenders. Dubbed the world’s most ambitious penal...
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Young Thug: Art as Evidence in the War on Gangs
Just Humans
Grammy-award winning rapper Young Thug is currently at the centre of one of the longest criminal trials in Georgia state history. He’s been charged alongside more than two dozen other people under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. Prosecutors are using his rap lyrics as evidence he and a gang called YSL are involved in serious criminal activity, but his defence attorneys say Thug is entirely innocent and that he’s not running a gang, he’s running a record label. Dr Gemma Flynn unpacks this extraordinary case in her latest zine called, ‘Slime: The...
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Punishment & Protection: The Paradox of Sex Work in Scotland
Just Humans
Since completing her PhD thesis, Dr Anastacia Elle Ryan has spent the last ten years working as a researcher, advocate and social entrepreneur promoting the rights of sex workers and criminalised women in Scotland and further afield. Anastacia founded a charity which aimed to remove the stigma often associated with sex work and provided support and services that improved the lives of hundreds of women across Scotland. In this final episode of the season, Anastacia talks to Rachelle Cobain about the social and legal position of sex work, how decriminalisation may have a positive impact on...
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Teejay & Mary: Two Tales of Supervision
Just Humans
Fergus McNeill, who is a Professor of Criminology and Social Work at the University of Glasgow, started his career as a criminal justice social worker before entering the world of academia in the late 90’s. Since then, much of his work has focused on how we punish, rehabilitate and reintegrate people into the community after they’ve offended. In this episode we talk about how two very different encounters Fergus has had during his career – one with a man we’re calling Teejay and another with Mary – had a profound and enduring impact on his research and his perception of supervision....
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Letters from Prison: An Exploration of Isolation
Just Humans
Former solicitor and now PhD student Deborah Russo intended her research into segregation in Scottish prisons to begin with a series of in-person interviews, but as Covid hit in 2020 she quickly had to devise an alternative plan. Over the last year she has been working on a written correspondence project which has seen her amass more than 150 letters from people in prison, detailing personal accounts of their experiences of isolation, the physical and psychological toll it has taken on them, and the ways in which they seek to cope with life inside. Deborah found that as these letters left the...
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Are you Listening? Shining a Light on Domestic Abuse in Scotland
Just Humans
Dr Emma Forbes joins us in this episode to describe her extraordinary project GlassWalls which uses the medium of stained glass to shine a light on domestic abuse in Scotland. Emma talks to Rachelle Cobain about each of the glass panels and the stories they tell us about victim/survivors and how law and society has viewed domestic abuse over the last few decades. The panels are part of a collaboration between the women at the Daisy Project in Glasgow along with Charles Provan and Brian Waugh from Wasps Studios. You can see photographs of all the panels on the GlassWalls website The Daisy...
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Just Talk: Is there life after state punishment?
Just Humans
In this special podcast episode we got four amazing criminologists together to discuss the question, 'is there life after state punishment?' Professor Fergus McNeill and Dr Marguerite Schinkel from the University of Glasgow are joined by Dr Reuben Jonathan Miller, University of Chicago and Professor Shadd Maruna, Queen's University Belfast. This episode was also filmed so if you'd prefer to watch the conversation head over to the A special thank you to Sean H and Donna Maciocia for supplying their song '' taken from the EP 'Looking at Colours Again' which is part of the Distant Voices project...
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Networks: Dr Ben Collier
Just Humans
Dr Ben Collier, University of Edinburgh, and his research team have been looking intently at how our governments and police are using online tactics to nudge and influence our behaviour as we surf the internet.
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Work: Dr Hannah Graham
Just Humans
Join us round the watercooler with our long-time friend and colleague, Dr Hannah Graham, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Stirling.
info_outlineFormer solicitor and now PhD student Deborah Russo intended her research into segregation in Scottish prisons to begin with a series of in-person interviews, but as Covid hit in 2020 she quickly had to devise an alternative plan.
Over the last year she has been working on a written correspondence project which has seen her amass more than 150 letters from people in prison, detailing personal accounts of their experiences of isolation, the physical and psychological toll it has taken on them, and the ways in which they seek to cope with life inside.
Deborah found that as these letters left the prison cell and went beyond the gates they acted as a bridge between the prisoner and the researcher, leading to a much more powerful, personal, and often cathartic exchange.
“In the mind of the participant it must mean something; that [the letter] moves away from the carceral space and perhaps it’s a way for the mind to become freer,” Deborah tells our host Rachelle Cobain.
Deborah gives listeners an incredibly moving insight into the minds of those isolated in prison, left without connection or meaningful human contact.
*Advisory: Please be aware that at around the 17-minute mark the conversation contains some adult sexual references.
Hosted/Produced/Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR
Follow us on Twitter via: @RachelleCobain @russo_dea
Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’.
Visit the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research website: www.sccjr.ac.uk and follow @TheSCCJR on Twitter & Instagram