Et Mon Droit

The more I immerse myself in my research, the more I find interesting groups of academics and arts practitioners who engage with both the visual and the law. For example, the Judicial Images project draws together people and resources regarding the potency of the visual image in law, and its symbolic role in legitimising power. The project 'explores how official and unofficial images of the judiciary are created, managed and consumed.' For more on that project, go to:

http://judicialimages.org

Similarly, it's always wonderful to find exhibitions that deal with the intersections between contemporary art and the law. 'Et Mon Droit' re-contextualises the heraldic motto 'Dieu et mon droit' that adorns English and Australian courtrooms. The artists explore the abbreviated motto to subvert legality and its fixed structure. The exhibition runs from 28 May - 11 July 2015 at Copperfield, London.

For more information, head to:
http://www.copperfieldgallery.com/et-mon-droit.html

Animated Crime

Several years ago I stumbled across Alix Lambert's book "Crime: A Series of Extraordinary Interviews Exposing the World of Crime - Real and Imagined". The book presents various narratives and commentaries about true crime and fictional crime, cinematic responses and prisoners' perspectives.

http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780955006180?redirected=true&viewCountry=AU&selectCurrency=AUD&gclid=COCDqKzAwb4CFVgSvQodOI8APQ

So it was wonderful today to find the boldly illustrated animated series:

http://style5.tv/portfolio/crime/

Visual Criminology

As a visual artist and criminology PhD candidate, I have a great interest in the intersections between criminal justice, aesthetics and visual culture, particularly in the context of contemporary digital technologies, screens and cameras linking prisons with courtrooms. During my research,  it has been great to find several online groups (e.g. on FaceBook) who share this interest in cultural criminology, more specifically, visual criminology or “criminological aesthetics” (Carrabine 2012: 464).

I've found that there are some good resources and references available about this emerging area of criminological research:

http://visualcriminology.com/about/

A related conference is the forthcoming ‘Law and the Visual: Transitions & Transformations’ at ANU. This  sounds very worthwhile and certainly relevant to my research! Several leading international scholars are confirmed participants including Alison Young, Peter Goodrich, Richard Sherwin and Desmond Manderson.

More details:

http://hrc.anu.edu.au/lawandvisual

http://lawlithum.org/category/conf/

On the thesis treadmill

"Automaton"= a moving mechanical device in imitation of a human being = how it feels at the moment as I try to write, write, write.

But the words appear 

s  l  o  w  l  y …

I've got fantastic rich empirical data from prison, developed strong arguments and found great literature yet the process of getting it down on paper(screen) is tough!
As well as writing, I've also been collecting interesting images that show video links in use, and the visual representation of the remote inmate. Here's one from Canada featuring former pig farmer and convicted serial killer, Robert Pickton:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Lawsuit+against+Pickton+government+police+should+wait+while+compensation+deal+worked+lawyer/9391439/story.html

In the Library at the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law

A tower of books about prisons, policing and punishment - I've found my place in the famous library of the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law.

Photo: Carolyn McKay 2013

The Library has an amazing collection of books and articles and is the most extensive socio-legal library in Europe. Furthermore it provides a tranquil place to work within a stunning Renaissance building.
More information:
http://www.iisj.net/iisj/de/about-iisl.asp?cod=5186&nombre=5186&prt=1

Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law

I've been ignoring my blogging obligations for some months...
But now I'm here in glorious Basque Country with time to write and complete the first draft of my thesis. I'm a Visiting Scholar at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Oñati, located in a beautiful Spanish Renaissance building that was completed in 1543.  Today I spent time in the Library procrastinating about where to commence … and decided to just start at the beginning with the Introductory chapter. I know I'll end up revising that chapter considerably later, but it feels good to ground my thoughts and remind myself of my motivations for this research project. I've started with a short narrative about my first encounter with courtroom technologies to give context to my research focus: the embodied experience of the incarcerated person, that person dressed in prison greens appearing from a remote correctional facility.

http://www.iisj.net/iisj/de/about-iisl.asp?cod=5186&nombre=5186&prt=1

Image: Carolyn McKay 2013 

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/