Interrogating State Violence: Custodial Deaths, Justice and Resistance
Hosted at Friends House, academics, activists and campaigners from around the globe joined Birkbeck researchers for ‘Interrogating State Violence: Custodial Deaths, Justice and Resistance’ a conference to mark the 20th anniversary of the United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC), a coalition of family justice campaigns affected by deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody. Speakers reflected on UFFC’s struggles for justice since their formation in 1997, whilst also highlighting new research and policy directions associated with state violence. Keynote addresses were given by; Akala (BAFTA and MOBO award-winning hip-hop artist, writer and social entrepreneur), Janet Alder (the sister of Christopher Alder who died in Hull Police Station in 1998) and Sherene Razack (Distinguished Professor and the Penney Kanner Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies, UCLA). The conference concluded with a screening of the film ‘Injustice’ (Migrant Media/Ken Fero & Tariq Mehmood) , followed by a Q&A with Marcia Rigg, Stephanie Lightfoot Bennet, Aji Lewis, Myrna Simpson, Germaine Phillips, Kadi Johnson, Tippa Naphtali, Lisa Cole, Raj Mahay and other families.
Further Information
Centre for Research on Race and Law
United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC)