The Transform Justice Podcast

Should parents be prosecuted when their children miss school? Stories of term-time holidays dominate the news on this subject, but in this episode Rob and Penelope hear from Ellie Costello, Director of Square Peg, and Polly Sweeney of Rook Irwin Sweeney about the reality of persistent absenteeism: chronic illness, waitlists, and impossible attendance expectations. We discuss whether prosecution is the answer when children are frequently absent from school and how law-abiding families can suddenly find themselves facing prosecution while trying to navigate life-changing circumstances such as bereavement and cancer diagnoses.

Ellie Costello @teamsquarepeg

Polly Sweeney @polly_sweeney

Further Resources

Transform Justice

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

Can someone be convicted of murder if they weren't the one who wielded the knife? According to the legal doctrine known as joint enterprise, yes they can. In this episode Rob and Penelope are joined by Jan Cunliffe, Director of campaigning group JENGbA, and Nisha Waller, PhD researcher at the University of Oxford, to explore this controversial common law which can see ten children convicted for a crime carried out by just one of their number. They discuss the types of evidence used to imply guilt in joint enterprise cases, including claims of gang affiliation and lyrics from drill music, and perceived miscarriages of justice resulting from cases which see young boys given life sentences for crimes in which they had little to no involvement.

Jan Cunliffe @Jliffe

Find out more about Jan and the campaigning group JENGbA at https://jointenterprise.co/

Nisha Waller @NishaWaller4

Read more about Nisha's research at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/people/nisha-waller-0

Further Resources

Read the Centre for Crime and Justice report 'The Usual Suspects' at https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/usual-suspects

Read a summary of the Jogee supreme court ruling at https://justice.org.uk/r-v-jogee-appellant/

Transform Justice

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

This week rather than talking about people accused or suspected of rule breaking, we ask why most people comply with rules and regulations most of the time. Our hosts Penelope and Rob are joined by Tim Newburn, Professor of Criminology and Social Policy at LSE, and Adam Wagner, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers to discuss the prerequisites for social compliance, how norms such as smoking indoors changed over time, and the challenges presented by Covid-19.  What can the pandemic tell us about public compliance in the UK?

Professor Tim Newburn @TimNewburn

Tim's book Orderly Britain can be found here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/tim-newburn/orderly-britain/9781472137968/

Adam Wagner @AdamWagner1

Adam's book Emergency State can be found here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453539/emergency-state-by-wagner-adam/9781847927460

Further Resources

LSE research into Covid-19 compliance following the Dominic Cummings incident: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/public-compliance-covid19-june/

Transform Justice

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

It may sound like the plot of a Dickens novel, but there are children in the UK who are coerced by adults into performing criminal activity every day. In most cases, this involves children being tasked with selling or delivering illegal drugs. In this episode, our hosts are joined by Aika Stephenson, Legal Director of Just for Kids Law, and Dr Grace Robinson, an expert witness in cases involving child criminal exploitation. They discuss the characteristics that typically make children vulnerable to exploitation, how children are coerced into performing illegal activities, and how the justice system responds to such cases.

Aika Stephenson @Justforkidslaw

You can find out more about Aika's work, including a recent briefing exploring the relationship between school exclusions and child criminal exploitation, at www.justforkidslaw.org

Dr Grace Robinson @DrGraceRobinson

You can see some of Grace's recent work, including an article on the impact of Covid-19 on child criminal exploitation, here: https://www.blackboxresearchandconsultancy.com/recent-work

Further Resources

Crest Advisory report, County Lines: Breaking the Cycle bit.ly/CrestReport

Transform Justice

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

The number of hate crimes recorded by police in England & Wales rose by over a quarter from 2021 to 2022. At the same time, some politicians have expressed concern that police are spending too much time investigating what Liz Truss has referred to as 'Twitter rows and hurt feelings'. In this episode, hosts Penelope and Rob discuss hate crime and how society should address it with Neil Chakraborti, Professor of Criminology at the University of Leicester, and Tony Burnett, CEO of Kick It Out, an organisation which tackles discrimination in football. 

Neil Chakraborti @NeilChakraborti

View Neil's academic profile, including his extensive research on hate crime here: https://le.ac.uk/people/neil-chakraborti

Tony Burnett @kickitout

Learn more about Kick It Out and ways you can help make football a more inclusive sport here: https://www.kickitout.org/

Transform Justice

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

Most experts agree that decriminalisation of drug possession and more robust social policy are the answer to drug-related harms. In December 2021 the government published a 10-year plan to tackle drug-related crime in the UK, aiming to cut supply and improve treatment options. But a new white paper building on this plan promises harsher-than-ever sanctions for recreational drug use, contrary to all evidence around what works to address this issue. In this episode, Rob and Penelope speak with Alex Stevens, Professor in Criminal Justice at the University of Kent, and Ian Birrell, journalist about the plans and ask whether the government is taking the right approach.

Professor Alex Stevens @AlexStevensKent

Find Alex's work on drugs policy, including his excellent TEDx talk, here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/social-policy-sociology-social-research/people/1536/stevens-alex

Ian Birrell @ianbirrell

See the full list of Ian's writing on drugs here: https://www.ianbirrell.com/category/public-policy/drugs/

Further Resources

The government's 10-year drugs plan: https://bit.ly/HarmToHope

The government's Swift, Certain, Tough white paper: https://bit.ly/SwiftCertainTough

Transform Justice

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

So far, we've mainly discussed issues relating to people accused of crime. In this episode, we turn the tables and talk about what victims of crime really want. Hosts Penelope and Rob are joined by Lucy Jaffé, Director of the charity Why me? and Darryn Frost, who witnessed the terror attack on London Bridge in 2019 and helped restrain the attacker until police arrived. In the context of the government's Victim's Bill - the first of its kind - we discuss the ways in which the justice system fails victims, and what could be done to truly empower people affected by crime, give them a voice in the aftermath, and help resolve the harm they've experienced.

Lucy Jaffé @whymeUK

Learn more about Lucy and find out about restorative justice on Why me?'s website: https://why-me.org/

Darryn Frost @DarrynFrost

Find out about Darryn's work supporting men leaving prison here: https://ownmerit.org/

Further Resources

Read the independent commission into the experience of victims and long term prisoners: https://bit.ly/ICEVLP

Read the government's draft Victims Bill here: https://bit.ly/VictimsBill

Transform Justice

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

In 2021 the government announced that it would dedicate £4 billion to building 20,000 new prison places by the mid-2020s. These plans have been faced with opposition from criminal justice experts and local communities. In this episode, Penelope and Rob are joined by Dr Kate Paradine, Chief Executive of Women in Prison and Nick Hardwick, Professor in Criminal Justice at Royal Holloway University of London to discuss why the government is expecting such an increase in the prison population, whether we need more prison places, and if the government can actually deliver on their proposals.

Kate Paradine @klparadine

Women in Prison (@WIP_live) are campaigning to stop new prison places for women. Find out more and join the campaign here.

Professor Nick Hardwick @nicklhardwick2

Read more about Nick’s work here.

Further Resources

Read the government’s Prisons Strategy White Paper here.

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

The pandemic saw an uptick in the use of remote technology in justice processes, with everything from legal advice in police stations to court hearings suddenly taking place online. The use of technology allowed practitioners to keep calm and carry on despite restrictions, but now that lockdown has ended, questions remain about the future of video technology in our justice system and its impact on fair trial rights. Penelope and Rob are joined by Dr Natalie Byrom, Director of Research at the Legal Education Foundation, and Stephen Davies, defence solicitor at Tuckers, to discuss the potential dangers of video technology and if (and when) it should be used in the future.

Dr Natalie Byrom @NatalieByrom

Read Natalie's work on tribunal judges' experiences of remote justice in the pandemic here.

Stephen Davies @sdavieslaw

View Stephen's bio here.

Further Resources

Read Transform Justice’s research into magistrates’ experience of remote justice here and our relevant blogs here.

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.

The parole system in England and Wales has been the subject of much debate and scrutiny in recent years. In this episode, we take a look at the factors that go into the decision to release someone from prison, and ask whether the system is up to task. Hosts Rob and Penelope are joined by Nicky Padfield, Professor of Criminal and Penal Justice at the University of Cambridge, and Dr Laura Janes, consultant solicitor for GT Stewart, to talk about proposed changes to parole outlined in the government's Root and Branch Review and whether these changes would make the parole system fairer.

Professor Nicky Padfield @cambridgelaw

View Nicky's profile here.

Dr Laura Janes @LauraJanes_UK

View Laura's bio here.

Read the JUSTICE report A Parole System Fit for Purpose here.

The government's Root and Branch Review of the Parole System can be found here.

Website: www.transformjustice.org.uk

The Transform Justice podcast is hosted by Penelope Gibbs and Rob Allen and produced and edited by Alexandra Kimmons. With thanks to Burges Salmon LLP for use of their space.