Spotlights: Criminal justice lessons from across the globe

• Date: 19 Jul 2023

• Location: Online

Booking for this event has now closed, please email katie.logue@howardleague.org if you’d like to attend.

England and Wales has the highest rate of imprisonment in Western Europe, with more than 85,000 men, women and children behind bars. Chronic overcrowding and acute staff shortages have become the norm in prisons where people routinely spend up to 23 hours a day with nothing to do. But the government has committed more than £4billion to increase the prison population still further – as high as 106,300 by March 2027. 

In this time of crisis, what can we learn from overseas? Our online event brings together a panel of international experts to share their knowledge of criminal justice systems in other jurisdictions and discover what has worked to reduce crime and make people safer. 

The panel will include: 

Dr Hindpal Bhui OBE, Inspection Team Leader at HM Inspectorate of Prisons
Hindpal leads inspections of prisons in England and Wales and immigration detention across the UK. He is a Visiting Law Professor at the University of Oxford. He has visited prisons across the world for research or inspection purposes, and to support reform efforts.

Jana Špero, Secretary General at Confederation of European Probation
Jana was appointed the new Secretary General in September 2022. Previously, she was the Director-General for Prisons and Probation in Croatia and board member/Vice-President of CEP.  As an International Consultant of the Council of Europe she was involved in different activities regarding the development of probation services: workshops, round tables and projects.

Dr Louise Brangan, Chancellor’s Fellow and Senior Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde
Louise has published on the history of imprisonment in Ireland and Scotland. She has been a Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley and in 2023 was named as one the BBC’s ten New Generation Thinkers. Louise was previously the Policy and Public Affairs Manager for the Howard League Scotland.   

Vincent Schiraldi, Maryland Secretary of Juvenile Services
Vincent is a national leader in criminal/juvenile justice and mass incarceration reform, a field he has worked in for more than four decades. He previously served as Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction, and before that Columbia University, where he served as Senior Research Scientist at the Columbia School of Social Work and co-Director of the Columbia Justice Lab.

This event will take the form of a panel discussion, so ideas can be shared, and comparisons made. We want to hear from you! Come along with any burning questions you might have. 

RSVP to join us for this free event, on Wednesday 19 July, 2pm to 3pm, online via Zoom. 

About the Howard League Spotlights series 

Howard League Spotlights is a series of events aimed at lifting the lid on prisons and finding more effective ways to reduce crime and keep our communities safe. Each event will focus on a particular theme and bring together experts to approach the issue from different perspectives. Spotlights events are free of charge, but if you would like to support our work, please consider becoming a Howard League member.