Browse Hierarchy ICM7255: Making custody Safer: Criminological and sociological aspects

The module will examine the social safeguards available to increase the safety of people detained in custodial or healthcare settings. Students will consider society's attitude to failures to provide safe care in custodial settings, and students will examine the way in which the discourse about detention and the use of force is constructed. The module will examine the founding international guidelines that set in place the rights of people in custody. The module will examine the forms of scrutiny provided by official government bodies such as Independent Custody Visitors, Independent Monitoring Boards and Independent Mental Health Advocates. These organisations will be examined critically for their contribution to the safety of custodial settings. The module will also consider the mechanisms of civil society that provide protection to people in custody such as the media and pressure groups. The module will examine the intersectionality of race, age, gender and illness in the provision of safe custodial care and how responses to failures are mediated by wider social perspectives and stereotypes. The development of trauma informed and proactive violence reduction programmes in secure settings will also be considered.