Between 2003 and 2016, the average tariff for murder in England & Wales increased by almost 40% to over 20yrs of imprisonment. It's clear that as a society, we have become desensitised to these huge sentences. In this episode, Professor Ben Crewe chats to Omar about his recent book, ‘Life Imprisonment from Young Adulthood’ (coauthored with Dr Susie Hulley, & Dr Serena Wright), which analyses the experiences of prisoners in England & Wales sentenced when relatively young to very long life sentences. Ben also discusses his own professional journey and introduces the new academic jour ..read more

Khatuna Tsintsadze is the Co-director of The Zahid Mubarek Trust (ZMT), an independent national charity founded in 2009 by the family of 19-year-old Zahid Mubarek who was murdered by his racist cellmate on the morning scheduled for his release from Feltham Young Offender Institution, London, UK. Khatuna chats to Omar about Zahid's legacy, her aspirations for the Trust and her personal approach to the heavy topics inherent in human rights work. During the episode, we mention 'A Record of Our Own' campaign, which was launched by the ZMT in June 2020. It aims to understand the impact of Covid-19 ..read more

Professor Neil Chakraborti chats to Omar about his career in Criminology and Hate Crime Studies. They discuss recent 'trigger events' that have caused increases in hate crimes and the intersection between academic study and real-world impact: how universities can work more closely with practitioners. Neil's new book, co-authored with Stevie-Jade Hardy Blood, Threats and Fears: The Hidden Worlds of Hate Crime Victims is also discussed as an example of working in an accessible way. Neil Chakraborti is a Professor of Criminology, Head of School and Director of the Centre for Hate Studies at the U ..read more

Dr David Skarbek is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Political Theory Project at Brown University. He is the author of The Social Order of the Underworld (Oxford, 2014), which won the APSA's William Riker Award for best book in political economy and the Outstanding Book Award from International Association for the Study of Organized Crime. His new book is called ‘The puzzle of prison order: Why life behind bars varies around the world’. In this episode, David chats to Omar about prison gangs in the USA and his award-winning book, as well as his new book examin ..read more

Alison Liebling is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Institute of Criminology’s Prisons Research Centre. Alison has recently been awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship to embark on significant further research and took a moment to reflect on her career-to-date with Omar.  Alison's work includes a series of successful books and publications on several topics including suicides and suicide attempts among adult prisoners, public-private sector comparisons, the work and role of prison officers, and the nature and quality ..read more

Catherine Heard is a senior research fellow at ICPR - the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, based at Birkbeck, University of London. In this episode, she talks with Omar about ICPR’s World Prison Research Programme, which builds on the World Prison Brief, ICPR's online database providing details of the prison systems of over 220 independent countries and dependent territories. Catherine discusses the real-world application of comparative criminology including two notable instances where ICPR data was directly used at the highest level - once where outgoing President Barak Obam ..read more

Kerry Carrington is a Professor at the School of Justice in the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. In this episode, Kerry chats to Omar about the paradigm shift that is ‘Southern Criminology’, which exposes dominant forms of knowledge production as distinctly Northern/Western and challenges their claims of universality. Kerry also discusses her preference for co-authoring, the numerous David & Goliath battles that she has taken on, and her passion for open access – ending with a call to action to aid the democratisation of knowledge. We discuss the recent pap ..read more

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 Bi ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more