Justice Focus

Kanika Samuels-Wortley is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Carleton University in Canada.

Kanika specialises in race and racism, youth delinquency, policing, corrections, and critical race theory. Her current research explores how perceptions and experiences with racial discrimination by law enforcement officials may contribute to victimization and offending among Black and Indigenous youth, thus maintaining their oppression and marginalization in Canadian society. She chats to Omar about her recent paper:

Youthful Discretion: Police Selection Bias in Access to Pre-Charge Diversion Programs in Canada. Race and Justice (2019)

Kanika Samuels-Wortley: [email protected] | @KanikaSamuels

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Dr Jamie Bennett has a huge wealth of experience in senior management positions across a range of specialised prison settings. These include as Governor of high-security prison HMP Long Lartin,  and as Governor of HMP Grendon, the only prison across England and Wales to operate entirely as a series of therapeutic communities, among many others. 

Today Jamie is the Deputy Director of the Operational Security Group for Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, AND also a research associate at Oxford University’s Centre for Criminology AND editor of the Prison Service Journal. He has published over 100 articles and in this episode he talks with Omar about his journey through prison management and how he has come to question managerialism in prison. He also talks about prisons in the media, his role in Gold Command response to COVID-19 and getting his hands dirty in search of real-world impact.

Extract from paper: Against Prison Management

Dr Jamie Bennett: @drjamiebennett | Prison Service Journal

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan

@Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Dr Martin Glynn is a Critical Race Criminologist at Birmingham City University – but that does not come close to telling the full story. Martin is a writer, a dramatist, a data storyteller, the Writer in Residence at the National Justice Museum, and much more besides.

In this episode he speaks to Omar about his alternative outlook to working within Criminal Justice, how he is able to produce so much work – academically and creatively – all without compromising on his goals. He also discusses the 'BME attainment gap' at universities and navigating white space.

Dr Martin Glynn: @msoulfires

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan 

@Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Nina Champion is Director of the Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA), a coalition of over 160 member organisations working towards a fairer and more effective criminal justice system. In this episode, Nina talks with Omar about her vision for the CJA and about steps towards reform – especially in the areas of systemic racism in policing and the valuing the contribution of those with lived experience.

CJA New report: Twenty one years after Macpherson Report, systemic racism in policing continues

Nina Champion: @ninachampioncja | Criminal Justice Alliance @cjalliance | http://criminaljusticealliance.org/

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Dr Hannah Graham is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, University of Stirling.

She talks with Omar about 'pracademia' and being close to both the practitioner and academic worlds.  Hannah talks about her book:

‘Rehabilitation Work: Supporting Desistance and Recovery’, and as an expert in electronic monitoring, she gives her take on the use of technology in reaction to covid about the time she wore a tag herself!

Dr Hannah Graham: @DrHannahGraham | University Profile

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Andrew M. Jefferson is a senior researcher at DIGNITY the Danish Institute Against Torture. For the past two decades, he has been studying and writing about prisons and prison reform processes in the global South with a focus on countries undergoing transition. He aims to contribute to social scientific understandings of the conditions under which torture and inhumane treatment thrive with a view in the end to transforming such conditions and making the world a safer place for all. In this episode, he discusses two upcoming papers:

1) Prison Reform and Torture Prevention under Compromised Circumstances.

2) Prison Ethnography in the pursuit of imponderable knowledge

Andrew M. Jefferson: @AndyMJefferson |  DIGNITY - Danish Institute Against Torture @DignityDK

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Penelope Gibbs has been director of Transform Justice since its foundation and has previously sat as a magistrate in England and run projects for the Prison Reform Trust. In this episode, she discusses two important Transform Justice reports. The first relates to the effectiveness of Virtual Court Hearings: Defendants on video – conveyor belt justice or a revolution in access?

The second & recently released report is about the overuse of Police Custody: 24 hours in police custody — is police detention overused?

We also cover how to reframe thinking about criminal justice to avoid triggering beliefs that hold back reform.

Penelope Gibbs: @PenelopeGibbs2 | http://www.transformjustice.org.uk/

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Dr David Rodríguez Goyes, a Colombian lawyer by training is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oslo, where he gained his PhD in Criminology. His main field of research is green criminology, with a focus on bio-piracy.

His new book: Southern Green Criminology: A Science to End Ecological Discrimination focuses on the threat the western world poses to the rest of the globe, and how Western-imposed ideas of progress are damaging the planet, especially the southern hemisphere.

And on top of that, he also participated in the Colombian peace process.

Dr David Rodríguez Goyes: @DavidRGoyes

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

This episode explores Dr David Maguire's recent paper: Vulnerable Prisoner Masculinities in an English Prison.

Masculinity is not a fixed thing. People can and do express their masculinity in many different ways and adapt their performance according to the environment. Rather than focus on the dominant or stereotypical forms of masculinity, Omar is back talking with Dr David Maguire about how men in vulnerable prisoner units adapt and cope.

If you haven't heard it yet, listen to Episode 9, which is Part 1 with David Maguire. If focuses on his personal journey and how an inspirational moment with a committed volunteer sparked a journey in education that would take him from council estate to prison & then to a PhD at Oxford University.

Dr David Maguire: @Dee0871

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan

@Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Men’s prisons – one of the places most associated with a macho identity. In Part 1 of this 2 Part Episode, Omar is joined by Dr David Maguire, an expert in prisoner masculinities, especially the adaptations of those lower in the prison hierarchy.

In this Part 1, we’ll be concentrating on Dave’s personal journey and how an inspirational moment with a committed volunteer sparked a journey in education that would take him from council estate to prison & then to a PhD at Oxford University.

The episode also introduces Dr. Dave's recent paper: Vulnerable Prisoner Masculinities in an English Prison

Dr David Maguire: @Dee0871 

Omar Phoenix Khan: @OmarPKhan 

@Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/