Thursday 28 July 2011

Esther van Ginneken in Dutch newspaper NRC Next


Esther van Ginneken, Ph.D. student at the IoC, has written an opinion article in the Dutch newspaper NRC Next which was published on Friday 8 July 2011. Since most of the readers of this blog probably will not be able to read Dutch, I will give a brief overview of what she has written and why she wrote the article.

The Dutch Secretary of Justice continues to introduce proposals for tougher punishments, such as minimum prison sentences for repeat offenders. With these proposals he wants to answer to public demands for more punitive sentencing. However, sentencing in the Netherlands has already become more punitive over the last ten years, and is certainly not lenient when compared to other European countries. Furthermore, the public's knowledge about actual sentencing practices may be limited.

Esther's article briefly describes some of the impact of a prison sentence, and it explains that longer prison sentences may be counterproductive. The article recommends that more attention needs to be paid to alternative punishments, and to restorative justice in particular. It is argued that politicians should focus less on populist rhetoric and more on understanding and addressing the causes of crime.

Well done Esther for making criminological knowledge and the results of academic research known to the public!

Also, if you do want to read the original article, contact Esther!


Wednesday 6 July 2011

RISE has won 'Cambridge University Entrepreneurs £5000 Award' and wants your help



Daniel Marshall and Baillie Aaron, Ph.D. respectively MPhil student at the Institute of Criminology have won another prize, the 'Cambridge University Entrepreneurs £5000 Award' and were national finalists in the 'Mckinsey students in society 2011 competition', for their not-for-profit social enterprise: 'RISE'; a coaching programme which provides adult role models to institutionalised young people. See this link for a report!
Due to this success, and building on previous awards, they have received increased interest from businesses, practitioners, academics, entrepreneurs, and other interested parties to invest and support the implementation of the programme. If anyone is interested in getting involved in anyway, or finding out more, please contact Daniel (djm210) or Baillie (bfa21), thank you.

They would also like your help!
1. Please - take 5 SECONDS and VOTE for their organisation, RISE - help us win £1,000 to start a mentorship organisation for young people in custody. This will attract a lot of attention from all over the world, so your vote is really important to us. (Feel free to forward this link to everyone you know / post on facebook / twitter...)

2. If you could spare just 2 minutes to complete the survey (only 3 names this time!) we would really appreciate it! Your ranking of the names will help us choose the ultimate winner!

Tuesday 5 July 2011

PHD CRIMINOLOGY CONFERENCE 2011 Edinburgh: CALL FOR PAPERS

This year the third annual Postgraduate Criminology Conference will be held at the University of Edinburgh Law School on September 15th and 16th 2011. In order for postgraduates from across Europe to engage in discussion about emerging research interests in criminology, we would encourage submission on papers from across this broad field. This can range from insights into unique methodological approaches to theoretical discussion of crime in society today. As in previous years, this conference will include themed panel sessions of student papers, as well as plenary speeches and expert panels on postgraduate issues. We hope that this will provide an ideal forum to meet other postgraduate criminology students and to gain an insight into research taking place across Europe today.

If you wish to present a paper at this conference or have any questions, please send the following to this email address: edphdconference@gmail.com

* Your name
* Your university / institution
* Your year of study
* Your paper title
* An abstract of no longer than 500 words
* Your email address

*The deadline for this Call for Papers is FRIDAY 8th JULY 2011*

For more information on accommodation etc, please refer to this website:

http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/conferences/PhDCriminologyConference/

This will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

All the best,
Gemma Flynn and Christine Haddow.