Professor Katja Franko discusses criminological research and the value of lives, security and inequality at Centre for Criminal Justice Studies Annual Lecture

On Tuesday 27 October 2020, Professor Franko delivered the talk entitled "Lives that matter: Doing criminology in an unequal and divided world".

Professor Franko is Professor of Criminology at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo.

The talk discussed the ideals of universalism, with a focus on the idea that all lives are equally valuable, and should be equally worthy of protection, form a standard narrative for human rights regimes and international legal instruments. Professor Franko explained that realities on the ground are marked by social arrangements where lives are de facto unequally protected.

There was further discussion on Professor Franko’s paper which examines possible avenues for addressing and theorising the dynamics of global security inequality; and questions how well equipped is criminology to address the underlying processes of social stratification which shape decisions about whose life gets to be protected, and by what means?

The event was hosted on Blackboard Collaborate and had over 80 participants joining from across the globe.

Listen to a recording of the Annual Lecture.