Prison and university: a tale of two institutions?

For many years prisons have had a reputation as universities of crime providing novice criminals with opportunities to learn from more experienced criminals. Over the last 20 years, as prison populations have grown there has been a simultaneous expansion of university places and of courses specialising in studying crime. Academic criminology has experienced rapid growth with some suggesting that there are more students studying criminology now than sociology. There have never been more criminology courses on offer, or institutions offering them. Amidst this growth, there are indications that there are significant numbers of criminologists with more personal experiences of both crime and prison, combining experience of the Academy and its poorer relation at the opposite end of the social structure. What accompanies the transition from crime and prison to criminology and university? The instrumental relationships between prisons and criminology are notorious, long-standing and controversial, but rarely examined at the personal level. In this paper the author reflects on such an experience of prison, conducting research, studying and teaching criminology. The intention is to foster a reflexive exploration of relations, both institutional and structural as well as personal, between prison and university

Ethnicity and social relations in a Young Offenders Institution

The idea of ‘race relations in prison' brings together potent symbols of troubled times. The numbers of young men being confined to prison seems to reach record levels on an annual basis while concerns about social cohesion are haunted by a fear that British society no longer has a strong image of itself. Ever since the riots in Bradford, Oldham and Burnley in Spring/Summer 2001 there has been intense political concern that white and minority ethnic communities in Britain are growing apart, not together. More recently, public unease about knife and gun crime has led to calls for tougher prison sentences, alongside bewilderment at the perceived violence and nihilism among Britain's young people

Restorative justice and the right to move on: toward deinstitutionalising the stigma of a criminal conviction

Moves toward restorative justice have tried to reclaim the resolution of conflicts from the exclusive grasp of the state. While much has been achieved in developing new ways of theorising and resolving disputes the consequences of acquiring a criminal record that is retained and deployed by the state have been largely overlooked. In this chapter the authors explore the emergence of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) in England and Wales and the ways in which the widespread use of criminal records compromises the rights of people to be considered free from the stigma of a criminal conviction. Contemporary developments in legislation and policy regarding the status of criminal convictions are considered and their implications for young people and those who work with them. The authors argue that the principles and practice of restorative justice must address these elements of permanent and increasingly active intrusive scrutiny by the state

What do ethnographers do in prison?

Rod Earle reports on three papers from the opening panel of ‘Resisting The Eclipse: An International Symposium on Prison Ethnography