Just Humans

Hello, Friends! I’m Ali Fraser, Director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research - a community critical, curious and creative researchers based in Scotland. Dedicated to rethinking crime and justice.  In this podcast series, I’ll be introducing you to the people that make the Centre, their lives and work, what inspires them and makes them tick. To pique your interest, perk up your ears, and probe your thinking. In each episode we’ll look at a different topic, turning it over and holding it up to the light. We’ll hear stories of justice and injustice, darkness and light, laughter and hope. Stories of justice from the people who make it. Welcome to the Just Humans Podcast. 

Just Humans: Darkness with Dr Anna Souhami Our first episode is about darkness with Dr Anna Souhami, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Edinburgh. Anna takes us on an audio trip to Shetland, around 200 miles north of the Scottish mainland, where she researched policing on the periphery and discovered how the dark skies loomed large in people's daily lives.   "It struck me even on that first day; the sea and the weather and the light and the darkness was so fundamental and central to life in Shetland, and how could they not be to policing on Shetland also?" Host: Dr Alistair Fraser Produced and edited by Rachelle Cobain and Mark Cunningham Follow Anna on twitter via: @AnnaSouhami Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Poems written by Christine de Luca www.christinedeluca.co.uk/ Visit our website: www.sccjr.ac.uk  

Translation: Dr Phil Crockett Thomas When we think about translation we usually think of translating from one language to another but research is an act of translation too. Often you are translating an experience, a conversation or observation into quotes and tables. Maybe there’s a better way of doing this? Our guest, Dr Phil Crockett Thomas, a visual sociologist based at the University of Glasgow and research associate on the Distant Voices project, has found poetry to communicate her research and talks to Dr Alistair Fraser about her latest collection ‘Stir’. “The poems really developed out of my time spent in these prison based song-writing workshops. What I found was that my ongoing practice as a writer of mainly fiction lead to the production of these fragmentary poetic fieldnotes.” Host: Dr Alistair Fraser Produced and edited by Rachelle Cobain and Mark Cunningham Follow Phil on twitter via: @crowdedmouth Phil’s collection of poems ‘Stir’ is available to read on her website: bit.ly/35H9Uj9  Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit our website: www.sccjr.ac.uk   

Connection: Professor Laura Piacentini Seldom has there been a time in history where human connection has meant more, but can we stay connected with one another and our work under these conditions?    To help us answer these questions Alistair Fraser is joined by our guest, Laura Piacentini, who is a Professor of Criminology at the University of Strathclyde. Laura has dedicated her professional life to forming connections in difficult circumstances from Russian prisons to former Soviet gulags and more recently has been using online forums to make connections. Listen to Laura and Alistair's conversation where they talk about poetry, pickled herring and vodka and how singing 'Let it Be' by the Beatles broke the ice with prison officers in Siberia.  Host: Dr Alistair Fraser Produced and edited by Rachelle Cobain and Mark Cunningham Follow Laura on twitter via: @LauraPiacentin2 Read more about Laura's project "In the Gulag's Shadow" here: http://www.gulagshadow.org/  Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit our website: www.sccjr.ac.uk 

Exceptionalism: Dr Louise Brangan   Our colleague Dr Louise Brangan from the University of Stirling was recently awarded the prestigious British Society of Criminology’s Brian Williams prize for her article, ‘Civilizing Imprisonment: The Limits of Scottish Penal Exceptionalism.’ It got us thinking about exceptions and exceptionalism – what makes one place that bit more special than somewhere else? In Scotland we often define ourselves to our big neighbour down south or look to Scandinavian nations to aspire to, often ignoring the complexities that can bring. To help us make sense of these issues, Louise tells us about her years spent digging through the archives in Scotland, Ireland and the United States to try and work out what being exceptional actually means in relation to punishment. Host: Dr Alistair Fraser Produced and edited by Rachelle Cobain and Mark Cunningham Follow Louise on twitter via: @LuluEile You can read the award-winning article here: https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/59/4/780/5272445  Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit our website: www.sccjr.ac.uk 

Family: Dr Cara Jardine   Our colleague, or should that be 'sister' of SCCJR, Dr Cara Jardine, Senior Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, joins our host Ali Fraser to help kick off Season 2 of the Just Humans podcast.  Cara's research focuses on the impact of imprisonment on family and relationships and recently published her book, 'Families, Imprisonment and Legitimacy: The Cost of Custodial Penalties'.  Cara and Ali talk about family as a verb, what prisons can do to help families connect and we hear Sophie's story who is a young mum trying to keep her family together while Kian is in prison. Hosted Dr Alistair Fraser, Director of SCCJR  Produced & Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR. Follow Cara on twitter via: @Cara_J_Says Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit our website: www.sccjr.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter @TheSCCJR

Friends: Dr Lisa Bradley and Dr Nughmana Mirza SCCJR besties Lisa and Nughmana first met when doing their PhD's at the University of Glasgow and soon found they had a lot in common; their research interests, having busy home lives with young kids, wanting to do academia differently and a shared love of chatting over cake and coffee. Soon their conversation sparked deep connection and collaboration.  In this episode of Just Humans we look at how friendship can be viewed as a radical act within the academy and examine the ways in which it may enrich research and the people who make it.  Since recording Dr Lisa Bradley is now a Lecturer in Creative and Interdisciplinary Studies in Education and Dr Nughmana Mirza is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Glasgow.  Researchers Don’t Cry?! https://researchersdontcry.wordpress.com Diversifying Justice https://diversifyingjustice.com Hosted by Dr Alistair Fraser, Director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR).  Produced & Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR. Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit our website: www.sccjr.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter @TheSCCJR

Work: Dr Hannah Graham Some of us have started to return to the office and in doing so we are relearning how to connect with our colleagues and professional networks.  The art of the office and how to share our work with the outside world is always a challenge and nevermore so than in these strange Covid times.  To help guide us we have gathered round the watercooler with our long-time friend and colleague, Dr Hannah Graham, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Stirling.  Hannah has established herself as a prominent public scholar who is never shy of raising her voice and speaking out about issues of crime and justice that are close to her heart.  In this episode we learn more about how Hannah has developed her public voice, how she (and others) can connect and support colleagues and why it's important to show up!  Hosted by Dr Alistair Fraser, Director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR).  Produced & Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR. Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit our website: www.sccjr.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter @TheSCCJR

Networks: Dr Ben Collier, University of Edinburgh We used to say look at the stars to feel how small you are, today we need just look at our phones. As we type into them the network pulses and our secrets are hoarded by the algorithm. We must ask, are we human or are we data?  Dr Ben Collier, Lecturer in Digital Methods at the University of Edinburgh, has spent the last couple of years looking intently at how our governments and police are using online tactics to nudge and influence us as we surf the internet.  From sophisticated fire safety messages being targeted at smart speakers in people's homes, to online adverts warning would-be teenage hackers that the DDoS attack they are planning is illegal, the creeping influence of these institutions is giving rising cause for concern.  Who is scrutinising these campaigns and could they unintentionally be doing more harm than good?  These are all questions our guest Ben and host Ali Fraser delve into in this episode of Just Humans.  Here's Ben's paper which he co-wrote with Dr Gemma Flynn, Dr James Stewart and Dr Daniel R. Thomas. https://bit.ly/31WPlQl Ben and Daniel also presented this SCCJR Seminar on the paper which you can watch on SCCJR's YouTube.  The Home Office audio clip featured in this episode came from the Digital Campaigning Essentials podcast published in May 2020. Hosted by Dr Alistair Fraser, Director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR).  Produced & Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR. Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit our website: www.sccjr.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter @TheSCCJR

In this special podcast episode we got four amazing criminologists together to discuss the question, 'is there life after state punishment?' Professor Fergus McNeill and Dr Marguerite Schinkel from the University of Glasgow are joined by Dr Reuben Jonathan Miller, University of Chicago and Professor Shadd Maruna, Queen's University Belfast. This episode was also filmed so if you'd prefer to watch the conversation head over to the SCCJR YouTube channel. A special thank you to Sean H and Donna Maciocia for supplying their song 'Rewind' taken from the EP 'Looking at Colours Again' which is part of the Distant Voices project at Vox Liminis.  We have lots of content on our website so if you want to learn more about us and what we do visit our website www.sccjr.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter @TheSCCJR. 

Dr Emma Forbes joins us in this episode to describe her extraordinary project GlassWalls which uses the medium of stained glass to shine a light on domestic abuse in Scotland. Emma talks to Rachelle Cobain about each of the glass panels and the stories they tell us about victim/survivors and how law and society has viewed domestic abuse over the last few decades. The panels are part of a collaboration between the women at the Daisy Project in Glasgow along with Charles Provan and Brian Waugh from Wasps Studios. You can see photographs of all the panels on the GlassWalls website https://glasswallsart.com/ The Daisy Project provides domestic abuse advocacy and support https://thedaisyproject.org.uk/ With special thanks to Jo Mango and the women of the Daisy Project who wrote the song ‘Are you Listening?’ which is played at the end of the episode. Hosted/Produced/Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR Follow us on Twitter via: @RachelleCobain @Emma_E_Forbes @Glasswalls3 Intro music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research website: www.sccjr.ac.uk and follow @TheSCCJR on Twitter & Instagram

Former solicitor and now PhD student Deborah Russo intended her research into segregation in Scottish prisons to begin with a series of in-person interviews, but as Covid hit in 2020 she quickly had to devise an alternative plan. Over the last year she has been working on a written correspondence project which has seen her amass more than 150 letters from people in prison, detailing personal accounts of their experiences of isolation, the physical and psychological toll it has taken on them, and the ways in which they seek to cope with life inside. Deborah found that as these letters left the prison cell and went beyond the gates they acted as a bridge between the prisoner and the researcher, leading to a much more powerful, personal, and often cathartic exchange. “In the mind of the participant it must mean something; that [the letter] moves away from the carceral space and perhaps it’s a way for the mind to become freer,” Deborah tells our host Rachelle Cobain. Deborah gives listeners an incredibly moving insight into the minds of those isolated in prison, left without connection or meaningful human contact.   *Advisory: Please be aware that at around the 17-minute mark the conversation contains some adult sexual references.   Hosted/Produced/Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR Follow us on Twitter via: @RachelleCobain @russo_dea Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research website: www.sccjr.ac.uk and follow @TheSCCJR on Twitter & Instagram

Fergus McNeill, who is a Professor of Criminology and Social Work at the University of Glasgow, started his career as a criminal justice social worker before entering the world of academia in the late 90’s. Since then, much of his work has focused on how we punish, rehabilitate and reintegrate people into the community after they’ve offended. In this episode we talk about how two very different encounters Fergus has had during his career – one with a man we’re calling Teejay and another with Mary – had a profound and enduring impact on his research and his perception of supervision. As Fergus uses song writing and photography to both engage and collaborate with Teejay, we also look at the role art has played in helping him understand people with lived experiences and how it has provided a degree of proximity to his research participants. Pervasive Punishment: Making Sense of Mass Supervision (2018) Emerald Publishing is available here. McNeill, F. (2018) ‘Mass supervision, misrecognition and the Malopticon’, Punishment and Society, first published January 29, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474518755137 An open access version can be found here: http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/154645/ The song played at the end of the episode is called Blankface which featured on the Vox Liminis Seen and Heard EP. Written by Teejay with Fergus McNeill. Performed by: Louis Abbott, Donna Maciocia and Tom Gibbs. Recorded and produced by Louis Abbott   Just Humans is Hosted/Produced/Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR Follow us on Twitter @RachelleCobain @fergus_mcneill Intro music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research website: www.sccjr.ac.uk and follow @TheSCCJR on Twitter & Instagram

Since completing her PhD thesis, Dr Anastacia Elle Ryan has spent the last ten years working as a researcher, advocate and social entrepreneur promoting the rights of sex workers and criminalised women in Scotland and further afield.  Anastacia founded a charity which aimed to remove the stigma often associated with sex work and provided support and services that improved the lives of hundreds of women across Scotland. In this final episode of the season, Anastacia talks to Rachelle Cobain about the social and legal position of sex work, how decriminalisation may have a positive impact on workers in Scotland and why she decided to turn her academic studies into activism and advocacy.  The Charity, SISU, is being relaunched soon, follow updates on Twitter @SISU_UK Hosted/Produced/Edited by Rachelle Cobain, Communications Officer at SCCJR Follow us on Twitter @RachelleCobain @AnastaciaRyan Music: ‘Rewind’ by Donna Maciocia and Sean H available to download from the Distant Voices EP ‘Looking at Colours Again’. Visit the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research website: www.sccjr.ac.uk and follow @TheSCCJR on Twitter & Instagram