The Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector: Emerging Scholarship

About this event

This conference was held at the British Academy who kindly funded the event. The event built on the research activities of the CRIMVOL network which aims to bring delegates from academia, practice and policy together to talk about their research needs, and establish the 'state of the art' in criminal justice voluntary sector research, paying particular attention to:

• identifying needs and gaps in the research capacity of academics, practitioners and policymakers
• voluntary sector governance, regulation and safeguarding in commissioning, contractual and informal service delivery relationships with statutory agencies
• the effects of contractual provisions in shaping voluntary organisations' activities
• the range and adequacy of theoretical and methodological tools used in criminal justice voluntary sector research, and the ethics of such research.

This conference explored the latest developments in this emerging area of scholarship and drive forward the research and practice agenda for voluntary sector and criminal justice infrastructure. 

Our keynote speaker was Professor Kerstin Svensson, University of Lund and our expert commentator was Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe, Director of the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge

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More information

Read the full report on the conference here (PDF)

If you missed the last CRIMVOL event in June 2017 you can find out more here.

Read about CRIMVOL at the American Society of Criminologists here

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Programme | Wednesday 10th Jan 9.30-5:00 | MUSIC ROOM, BRITISH ACADEMY

Expert commentator panel: Professor Sir Anthony Bottoms (Universities of Cambridge and Shefffield), Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe (University of Cambridge), Professor Joanna Shapland (University of Sheffield).

9.20 Welcome

9.30 Panel 1
Samantha McAleese, Carleton University (Canada)
From Democratic Under-Labourer to Political Activist… and Beyond. Reflections on the role(s) of the public criminologist

Ella Simpson, Bath Spa University
Being the change you want to see: The importance of frontline practitioners’ stories in understanding the penal voluntary sector

Gillian McNaull, Queen’s University Belfast
The Third Sector Dilemma: Tensions of practice within regimes of harm

11.00 Coffee

11.20 Panel 2
Dr Gill Buck, University of Chester
Politicisation or Professionalization? Exploring divergent aims within UK voluntary sector peer mentoring

Abi Salole, Sheridan College (Canada)
Client/Helper Subjectivities in the (youth serving) Penal Voluntary Sector

Melissa Pepper, University of Surrey
Doing More for Less in Changing Times? The Use of Volunteers in Policing

12.50 Lunch + coffee

1.35 Keynote lecture Professor Kerstin Svensson, University of Lund (Sweden)
Relationships between NGOs, volunteers and the state in Sweden: Prison, probation and victim support

2.15 Panel 3

Maija Helminen, University of Turku (Finland)
NORDIC PENAL VOLUNTARY SECTORS: Exploring the volume, nature, outcomes, potentials and challenges of the voluntary sector involvement in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, and Swedish prisons

Dr David Thompson, University of Sheffield
Webs of control and compliance by an ‘optional extra’

Gemma Morgan, Swansea University
Enhancing Evidence-Based Practices in the Voluntary Sector: Inter-Agency Communication and Organisational Factors

3.45 FINISH