Roundtable: Prisoners' Families: International Perspectives on Key Issues and Emerging Research

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract/Description

This session will feature participants from various international jurisdictions (e.g. US, UK, Australia) who will discuss common, divergent, and emerging challenges faced by prisoners’ families on a global scale. In keeping with this year’s meeting theme, this roundtable will consider the relationship between criminological praxis and policy on families amidst a time of political polarization and social unrest, bringing together the perspectives of scholars and activists.

As an open forum for discussion on an ever-expanding field of criminological inquiry, we are curious about interrogating the following: How are prisons and other penal regimes stigmatizing the families of prisoners, especially with the rise of AI and other digital forms of surveillance? Are there developments in prisoners’ families activism that do/do not benefit these families, and how might tensions between policymakers and campaigners be reconciled? Furthermore, what role do experiences of marginalization (e.g. race, gender, ethnicity, class) play in further traumatizing or harming justice-involved families?

As researchers, teachers, and activists, can we use our collective voices to mitigate these harms? Furthermore, how do we ensure that our research methodologies protect the vulnerable communities with whom we work? Ultimately, how can we endeavour to learn from each other in this space?

Sub Unit

• Area XIV. Roundtables

Chair

• Adam Kluge, University of Oxford, Centre for Criminology

Discussants

• Rachel Condry, University of Oxford

• Mark Halsey, University of Flinders

• Shona Minson, University of Oxford

• Molly Biddle, University of Cambridge

• Ariadne Fischer, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge