Critical Criminology Conference 2013

Today I'm writing my paper for the 7th Annual Critical Criminology Conference:

http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/law/news-and-events/critical-criminology-conference-2013.cfm

My paper is "Video Links from Prison: Permeability and the Carceral World" in which I discuss whether video conferencing systems create new links between spaces of incarceration and the outside world, or merely reinforce the growing carcerality of contemporary society. I explore how video conferencing may be a conduit between conceptually linked but non-contiguous spaces, facilitating a process of permeability between prisons and the outside world: as the courtroom enters the prison via video link technologies, simultaneously, the prison enters the courtroom. My recent fieldwork drew attention to the issue of sound permeability, or audio bleed, with prison noise infiltrating the video booth and flowing into the remote courtroom.

Carceral Cinematography

As I've been researching carcerality I came across this interesting list of prison films that explore the use of prisoners and prisons as narrative or metaphor:

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/prisonfilmsbib.html

Google images 18/07/13

Actually I've now found many other lists including:

http://www.imdb.com/list/QtLIw92EnJA/

http://www.prisonmovies.net/prison-movies

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/may/30/ten-best-prison-films

Add to this list the many reality TV shows about prisons particularly in the USA and UK and prison drama series, and you have many hours of intense viewing!

The Conversation: review of the Gateways to Justice report

I was recently interviewed by The Conversation about the Australian Research Council Linkage Project “Gateways to Justice: improving video-mediated communications for justice participants” report. This was a very comprehensive study using innovative experiments and proposing important improvements and guidelines for video conferencing in the justice sector.

http://theconversation.com/higher-quality-court-videolinks-will-improve-justice-outcomes-study-15453

Court closures in England

Interesting to read about the number of court closures in England:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/hmcts/courts

I'm not sure if this process is yet complete but the proposal is to close 93 magistrates' courts and 49 county courts in England and Wales. Thanks to contacts from the British Society of Criminology Post Graduate Community, and my researching mother, who have sent me a variety of links about the court closures, for example, Highgate in London:
http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/highgate_s_magistrates_court_closes_its_doors_for_good_1_1753891

Since I last looked at this website it seems the network of Virtual Courts has expanded, not surprising given the number of court closures:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/legal-aid/areas-of-work/crime/magistrates-courts

Google image search 02/07/13

Great images of derelict courts and buildings:
http://www.locationworks.com/search/index.php?search=court

Also in Ireland:

Crumlin Road Courthouse in Belfast:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slinky2000/6329909078/