Leading Hillsborough researcher and campaigner on the power of dissenting voices
Professor Phil Scraton will deliver the annual University of Leicester Scarman Lecture on Wednesday 26 September.
On Wednesday 26 September prominent critical criminologist, academic and author Professor Phil Scraton will be visiting the University of Leicester to deliver the Department of Criminology’s annual Scarman Lecture.
Entitled ‘Fractured Lives, Dissenting Voices, Recovering Truth’, Professor Scraton’s lecture will explore how and why he considers dissenting voices to be the foundation of hope, resistance and transformation.
Alongside his academic career as Emeritus Professor in the Queen's University Belfast School of Law, Professor Scraton played a key role in the investigation of the context, circumstances and aftermath of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
Professor Scraton headed research as a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and his book ‘Hillsborough: The Truth’ is now widely accepted as a definitive account of the disaster and its aftermath.
Professor Scraton has also researched deaths in custody, the marginalisation and criminalisation of children and young people, the politics of imprisonment, and the analysis of disasters and their impact on the bereaved and survivors.
The event is free and open to all. The lecture will begin at 5pm in the University of Leicester’s Peter Williams Lecture Theatre, Fielding Johnson Building South Wing. It will be followed by a wine reception and book signing from 6.30pm.
Professor Teela Sanders, Director of Research in the Department of Criminology, said: “‘The Department is honoured to have Professor Scraton giving this year’s annual Scarman Lecture. His work continues to have a major contribution to critical criminology and his methods of inquiry and engagement in public and social justice issues is something we can all learn from in terms of the usefulness of our discipline and the application of our work. We are very much looking forward to the lecture and discussion as the session will cover a broad landscape of social justice issues.”
Each year the Scarman Lectures invite a number of high profile guest speakers to deliver papers on current issues in criminology, criminal justice, policing and community safety.
Past speakers have included former Director of Liberty, Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, Frances Crook, and Chair of the Parole Board, and formerly Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick.