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

Black criminology

In 1992, Katheryn Russell (1992) advocated the introduction of a subfield of Black Criminology within the discipline. This chapter outlines the main elements of the proposed subfield as well as more recent developments and then considers its value some 30 years on. In so doing, the chapter critiques the whiteness of criminological theory and the representation of whiteness in the academy. It sets out the importance of decolonizing ideas, particularly with regard to epistemological and methodological approaches to study black (and minority ethnic) experiences of crime and justice. It centres on historical and contemporary racism as an explanatory framework, uses black cultural forms to express lived experiences, and acknowledges the value of scholar-activism to challenge the mainstream criminological narrative about race and crime

Sleepwalking into the ‘post-racial’: social policy and research-led teaching

Research-led teaching is the sine qua non of the 21st century university. To understand its possibilities for teaching and learning about race in Social Policy requires, as a first step, interrogating the epistemological and theoretical core of the discipline, as well as its organisational dynamics. Using parts of Emirbayer and Desmond’s (2012) framework of disciplinary reflexivity, this article traces the discipline’s habits of thought but also its lacunae in the production of racial knowledge. This entails focusing on its different forms of institutionalised and epistemological whiteness, and what has shaped the omission or marginalisation of a full understanding of the racialisation of welfare subjects and regimes in the discipline. Throughout, the article offers alternative analyses and thinking that fully embrace the historical and contemporary role of race, racism, and nation in lived realities, institutional processes, and global racial orders. It concludes with pointers towards a re-envisioning of Social Policy, within a framework in which postcolonial and intersectional theory and praxis are championed. Only then might a decolonised curriculum be possible in which race is not peripheral to core teaching and learning

The trouble with culture: a speculative account of the role of gypsy/traveller cultures in 'doorstep fraud'

This article makes the case for the empirical study of the causative role of culture and ethnicity in offending and criminality. It advocates considering that racist subordination and structural exclusion may produce adaptive cultural practices which in turn contribute to negative outcomes such as crime. This article tentatively uses a case study of ‘doorstep fraud’, commonly associated with Gypsy/Traveller ‘rogue traders’ and ‘cowboy builders’ to engage with this idea. Drawing on conceptual and theoretical developments in anthropology, sociology and criminology, and using data from offender interviews with ‘doorstep fraudsters’, I examine the opportunities provided by nomadism and family self-employment for crime commission. The article speculates that Gypsy/Travellers’ cultures, structurally framed by economic insecurity, political marginalization and hostile social relations with sedentarist society are nonetheless dynamic rather than fixed, often sharing the aspirations and motivations of other ethno-cultural groups

From 'rogue traders' to organised crime groups: doorstep fraud of older adults

This paper explores fraudulent acts by offenders who target and pressurize older adults ‘on the doorstep’ to have property repairs, often misrepresenting themselves as skilled tradesmen, and overcharging for such work. It uses extensive documentary materials from 11 enforcement operations in England together with interviews with trading standards officers and financial investigators. Using Reiner’s (2000) Necessary Conditions of Crime framework illustrates the dynamics of doorstep fraud – from ‘low-value’ crimes to incidents of grooming and repeated victimization to the actions of organized crime groups often involving money laundering. The paper’s contribution is a focus on a relatively understudied but vulnerable demographic group in criminology, and in highlighting the investigation practices of non-constabulary law enforcement officers who have not been the subject of empirical study in criminolog

Utilising modern slave narratives in social policy research

Modern slavery has received somewhat limited attention in social policy. Partially responding to this gap, while acknowledging the contested nature of the term ‘modern slavery’, this article makes the case for the primary and secondary analysis of ‘slave narratives’ which provide experiential and agential accounts by those directly harmed by forced labour, coerced sex work and other forms of exploitation. Analysis of a narrative interview with Sean, a (citizen-)victim of forced labour proved under s.71 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, demonstrates the multifaceted nature of labour exploitation and its multiple, severe and long-lasting harms. That the form and structure of Sean’s narrative of forced labour resembles those used in the abolitionist cause against antebellum slavery points to a certain timeless essence to forced labour exploitation. The article concludes with implications for intervention

Seeing is Believing: How the Layering of Race is Obscured by “White Epistemologies” in the Criminal Justice Field

Criminology has been slow in recognizing the central organizing logic of race in (post)colonial societies. It is therefore unsurprising that research practice falls behind that proffered through other disciplinary epistemological critiques. In this paper, we interrogate the tools of whiteness that are obscured in the widely used research method of in-depth interviews. We scrutinize what is not “seen” but which can be made evident in research interactions, using three interview case studies conducted in England. Warren, a white man interviewed by a white man (Earle), exposes the occlusions and upholding of race and racism in prison settings. Rafan, a British Bangladeshi man interviewed by a British Indian woman (Parmar) reveals a socio-cultural backstory in which coloniality is deeply implicated but seems just beyond view, within and outwith the criminal justice system. Finally, the interview of Cairo, a black (British) Jamaican man by a mixed-race black British woman (Phillips), articulates a poignant yet defiant response to structural and cultural racism, which begins long before interaction with the criminal justice system. Laid bare are the limitations of existing research where over-represented white researchers typically conduct research involving under-represented minorities who are vulnerable to exclusion, criminalization, and state violence. Our three case study interviews offer a step beyond traditional qualitative research instruction for students and apprentice researchers. It aims to impart a reflexive pedagogy which intertwines biography with politics in training the next generation of criminal justice researchers

Negotiating identities: ethnicity and social relations in a young offenders' institution

This article explores the situated nature of male prisoner identities in the late modern British context, using the contrasting theoretical frames of Sykes's (1958) indigenous model and Jacobs' (1979) importation model of prisoner subcultures and social relations. Drawing on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in an ethnically, religiously and nationally diverse young offenders institution, consideration is given to how prisoners manage and negotiate difference, exploring the contours of racialization and racism which can operate in ambiguous and contradictory ways. Sociological understandings of identity, ethnicity, racialization and racism are used to inform a more empirically grounded theoretical criminology