Social Work, Crime and Criminal Justice (SWCCJ)
Worldwide, social workers have many functions and roles to play in the areas of crime and criminal justice. The SWCCJ will offer opportunities for sharing research and practice in relation to these, including: CCJ issues relating to the social work workforce (e.g. social work education admissions decision-making, representation of CCJ lived experience among social workers) and CCJ issues relating to social work practice (e.g. maternal imprisonment, carceral human rights, rehabilitation and interprofessional working with police and prisons).
Social work practice and research in these and other CCJ areas are often dominated by legalistic approaches and regulation constraints. Because of this, social workers and researchers in this field often feel powerless facing oppressive procedures and regulations when working and advocating for service users and in their struggle to promote social justice-oriented change. In the SWCCJ SIG we strongly believe, drawing from the experience of our members, that international comparison and collaboration is a key avenue for learning good practice and envisaging alternative understandings, practices and regulations regarding social work in the areas of crime and criminal justice, and for enhancing social work’s contributions and influence on these. Hence the SWCCJ is conceived as an empowering and fruitful space for discussion, mutual learning, peer support, collaborative publication and research based social justice advocacy for social work researchers across Europe in the SWCCJ field.
The SWCCJ will offer opportunities for research networking and collaboration among social work researchers from different countries and all career stages. We will seek and encourage the participation of service users and experts by experience.
Convenors: Caroline Bald, University of Essex, and María Inés Martínez Herrero,
List of members who will form the initial SIG members
Caroline Bald, University of Essex (UK)
María Inés Martínez Herrero,
Domingo Carbonero Munoz, Universidad de la Rioja (Spain)
Rafael Alcazar Ruiz, Universidad de Alicante (Spain)
Brian Littlechild, University of Hertfordshire (UK)
Heidi Dix, Suffolk University (UK)
Beth Weaver, University of Strathclyde (UK)
Kirstin Parkes, Robert Gordon University (UK)
Helen Woods, University of Birmingham (UK)
Gill Buck, University of Chester (UK)
Mthoko Ngobese Sampson, University of West London (UK)
