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From research to reform

Birkbeck’s Department of Criminology celebrated its launch this week with a lecture by leading prison reformer Juliet Lyon CBE.

The Department of Criminology at Birkbeck celebrated its launch this week with a lecture from leading prison reformer and Visiting Professor Juliet Lyon CBE. The lecture, From fake news to hard facts, research to reformdrew on her experience of work to achieve social justice, sharing her insights on the relationship between research and social change. Prior to Birkbeck, Lyon was Director of the Prison Reform Trust and Secretary General of Penal Reform International.

Lyon’s lecture focused on the need to confront the ‘hard facts’ of prisons and the reality of current harms and limitations of imprisonment. Drawing from a range of research findings, as well as reflections on lessons learned from various challenges and successes in reform, she offered a sense of what is needed in moving positive change forward.

The Head of Department of Criminology, Dr Sarah Lamble, offered history and further context for the emergence of the new department. Lamble highlighted the department’s commitment to theoretically informed, empirically grounded and socially-engaged scholarship and teaching – noting its aim to support research and teaching that pushes the boundaries of traditional criminology.

Lamble said “We were delighted to welcome so many guests to the Department of Criminology Inaugural Lecture and it was a privilege to be joined by Juliet Lyon, whose work on prison reform is an inspiration to so many. We look forward to working with Juliet and others in the criminal justice sector in fostering a critical research and teaching agenda that works towards meaningful social change both within and beyond the criminal justice sector.”

The lecture brought together current students, staff, alumni, the wider criminal justice community and the public to celebrate the launch of the department and engage in discussion and debate.

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