SCCJR Justice Future Seminar Series

The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research is a collaboration between the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier, Stirling and Strathclyde that aims to produce excellent research and develop excellent researchers so as to better the development of policy, practice and public debate about crime and justice. Though based in Scotland and determined to analyse and address crime and justice in Scotland, our work is international both in its influences and in its influence. We work for, with and through fellow academics, policymakers, practitioners and others involved with justice all over the world, believing that Scottish criminology and Scottish criminal justice has much to learn from and much to teach others.

The Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research

In this talk, Anastasia Chamberlen and Henrique Carvalho will present the main themes of their co-authored book, Questioning Punishment.

<h3>Questioning Punishment and Feeling Justice</h3> <h4>Henrique Carvalho and Anastasia Chamberlen, University of Warwick.</h4>Chaired by Milena Tripkovic, University of Edinburgh.Abstract:In this talk, Anastasia Chamberlen and Henrique Carvalho will present some of the main themes of their recently co-authored book, Questioning Punishment (2024, Routledge). The book offers a cultural and psychosocial examination of contemporary punishment, which the authors identify as a symptom and manifestation of a deeper social problem, the hegemonic character of punitive logics and punitive justice. To expose this issue, the authors argue that it is necessary to challenge the main assumptions underpinning punishment, and to see it as a problem rather than its usual status as a solution or response. The talk will focus on two main aspects of this approach. The first is the emotional dimension of punishment, which arguably underpins its hegemonic character. The book argues that the main answer to the question ‘why do we punish?’ lies in the link between punishment and the phenomenon of hostile solidarity. The second, then, is a discussion of how the allure of hostile solidarity and the hold it has on contemporary justice can be addressed and resisted – what the authors call a ‘lived sense of justice’. Henrique Carvalho is Professor of Law and co-Director of the Centre for Critical Legal Studies at the University of Warwick. He is the author of The Preventive Turn in Criminal Law (2017, OUP) and the co-author, with Anastasia Chamberlen, of Questioning Punishment (2023, Routledge). His current research uses cultural theory, aesthetics and narratology to critically analyse criminalisation and punishment. Henrique is currently a Mid-Career Fellow with the British Academy, working on the project ‘Just Sentences: Narrating and Rewriting Criminal Law’s Aesthetic Injustice’. Anastasia Chamberlen is Professor of Sociology and co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender at the University of Warwick. She is the author of Embodying Punishment: Emotions, Identities and Lived Experiences in Women’s Prisons (2018, OUP) and the co-author, with Henrique Carvalho, of Questioning Punishment (2023, Routledge). Her current research looks into creativity, artmaking and belonging in prison. Anastasia is main coordinator and co-founder of the International Justice Arts Network (IJAN), which arose out of her AHRC-funded project ‘Captive Arts’.

........................................................................................................................The SCCJR Justice Futures Seminar is brand new series for 2026.This monthly series will engage with a range of concerns and questions relating to new and evolving social harms, how social systems and institutions can contribute to, or alleviate, harms and injustices and how justice futures might be re-enacted or reimagined.You are all welcome to join us for these informal online lunchtime sessions. You can see a full list in the table below.For a full list of our upcoming seminars please see table below. Join our<a href="https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/news-events/newsletter-form/" title="https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/news-events/newsletter-form/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"> mailing list </a>or follow us on BlueSky, TikTok and LinkedIn @TheSCCJR for updates on future events and news from the Centre.

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SCCJR Justice Future Seminar Series

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