Frank Dawtry Annual Lecture: 'Do You Think Anybody Really Cares?’ Learning from Youth Justice Reform in Scotland
- Date: Wednesday 26 March 2025, 5:00 – 6:30
- Location: Liberty Building (Moot Court) LT (1.28)
- Cost: Free
Join the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies to hear from Karen McCloskey on how prevention in youth justice is shifting the criminal justice landscape in Scotland.
The lecture will be followed by panel discussion and Q&A. Thereafter, attendees are invited to join us for a small wine reception.
Abstract
The permacrisis in the justice system has sparked much wringing of hands and interviews in the media from those with responsibility for justice from a policy or delivery perspective. Yet change is possible and is happening. Current focus on prevention in youth justice is fundamentally shifting the landscape in Scotland. In this year’s Frank Dawtry Memorial lecture, Karyn McCluskey will consider how detailed criminology research, sentencing guidance, connectedness, partnership, focus and implementation have led to no under-18s in prison or young offenders’ institutes in Scotland, and what this means for the future of criminal justice there, and potentially further afield.
About the Speaker
Karyn McCluskey trained as a nurse, and then in psychology. She spent 21 years working with the police and helped establish the Violence Reduction Unit in 2003 with a public health approach that proposed a different way of addressing and preventing violence in Scotland. She is a member of the WHO Violence Prevention Alliance and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. She has published work on armed robbery teams, alcohol and violence interventions in a clinical setting and violence reduction. In addition, Karyn is a Non-Executive Director at the Scottish Professional Football League, a board member of Simon Community Scotland, a trustee of Medics Against Violence and Chair of the Centre for Justice Innovation. In her current role as Chief Executive of Community Justice Scotland, she works to create better outcomes for those who have broken the law, their families and victims of crime.
How to Attend
Please register in advance via Tickettailor.