Justice Focus

A criminology podcast amplifying the voices shaping justice.Each episode features in-depth conversations with people doing the work—whether through academic research, NGO projects, or frontline practice. Together, we not only shine a spotlight on the ideas and innovations transforming criminal justice across the world, but also challenge traditional ways of thinking about justice and explore what lies beyond them.

Justice Focus is a society podcast hosted by Dr Omar Phoenix Khan, with 34 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Dr Omar Phoenix Khan hosts Justice Focus, a society show with 34 episodes published.

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  Episode #37

  37: Unsafe: Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash with Prof Lamble

  Jul 15, 20261 hourS2

  37: Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash with Prof Lamble In this episode, Dr Omar Phoenix Khan speaks with Lamble, Professor in Criminology and Queer Theory at Birkbeck, University of London, a leading scholar-activist at the intersection of gender, sexuality, and transformative justice. Lamble has spent decades working in community organising, prison abolition, and queer activism and has published extensively. The conversation centres on Lamble's forthcoming book, Unsafe: The Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash , a bold political intervention that traces how the rapid rise of anti-trans sentiment in the UK is not simply a culture war, but is deeply entangled with carceral politics: the idea that safety is best achieved through punishment, policing, and exclusion. Lamble unpacks the unique convergence of left and right actors behind the anti-trans movement, and why framing trans rights as a safety threat has proved so politically powerful. We explore the mainstreaming of carceral feminism, its historical development and its troubling track record, and ask what the evidence actually tells us about whether prisons and legal reform deliver safety for survivors of gender-based and sexual violence. Spoiler: it doesn't. But this episode doesn't stop at critique. Lamble sets out a compelling vision for transformative justice: one rooted in material safety, radical solidarity, and building collective infrastructures of care that include everyone, especially those society has deemed undeserving. We also reflect on how individuals and communities can act at interpersonal, institutional, and systemic levels to contribute to genuine change. Also - for every preorder of the book before 11th August 2026, Lavender Pages will distribute a free copy of Unsafe directly to LGBTQ+ prisoners. This episode is essential listening for anyone thinking about feminism, trans rights, prison abolition, or what it really means to build a society where everyone is safe. Prof Lamble | Birkbeck, University of London Unsafe: The Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash Preorder via Lavender Pages: https://thecommonpress.shop/products/august-11th-unsafe-the-carceral-roots-of-the-anti-trans-backlash-preorder Lamble's upcoming events page: https://lamble.net/events Article: Practising Everyday Abolition Keywords: trans rights, anti-trans backlash, carceral feminism, transformative justice, prison abolition, queer theory, gender-based violence, radical solidarity, collective care, UK politics, Lamble Lamble, Unsafe . Podcast researched & hosted by Dr Omar Phoenix Khan, University of Bath. Theme music by SHEZ .

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  Episode #36

  36: Processes of Racialisation with Dr Jason Warr

  Jul 1, 20261h 31mS2

  Why is a focus on racism so often missing from prison research, even when the evidence shows time and again its power to shape experience and outcomes? In this episode, Dr Omar Phoenix Khan speaks with Dr Jason Warr , Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Nottingham about his paper ‘ Whitening Black Men ’, winnerof the BJC's 2023 Article of the Year , which sets out how the entire architecture of "rehabilitation" in English prisons is built around an unstated norm of whiteness. This means that Black men are read as deviations from that norm by default, regardless of what they actually do. He traces this back through Gilroy's myths of Black criminality and through everyday moments: being told to "be less urban," being labelled gang-affiliated for associating with peoplefrom your own school. In his working paper for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies , written for the 25th anniversary of the death of Zahid Mubarek, Jason sets out five reasons racialisationremains marginal in British prisons research: epistemic ignorance, fear, marginality, conceptual problems, and whiteness itself. This episode will interest anyone working in or thinking about racism in criminal justice, narrative criminology, the sociology of whiteness, prison ethnography, or research impact beyond the REF. Read Jason's work : Warr, J. (2026). Where is "race" in prison studies? Centrefor Crime and Justice Studies, Working Paper No. 9. Warr, J. (2023). WhiteningBlack Men: Narrative Labour and the Scriptural Economics of Risk and Rehabilitation . British Journal of Criminology, 63 (5),1091–1107. Warr, J. (2020). 'Always Got to Be Two Mans': Lifers, Risk, Rehabilitation, and Narrative Labour . Punishment & Society, 22 (1), 28–47. Further reading: Franko, K., & Lomell, H. M.(2025). Private economies of knowledge in criminal justice : Introduction to the Special Issue. Theoretical Criminology , 29 (3), 257-267 Lammy, D. (2017). TheLammy Review: An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System. Phillips, C., Earle, R., Parmar, A. & Smith, D. (2020). Dear Britishcriminology: Where has all the race and racism gone? Theoretical Criminology, 24 (3), 427–446 Zedner, L. (2025). Governing by think tank? From experts to political ideologues in UK criminal justice and security. Theoretical Criminology , 29 (3), 268-287. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13624806251339617 Keywords: race, racialisation, whiteness, criminology, prison studies, rehabilitation, joint enterprise, epistemic ignorance, coloniality, prison ethnography, lived experience research, REF, impact. Podcast researched & hosted by Dr Omar Phoenix Khan , University of Bath. Theme music by SHEZ .

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  Episode #35

  35: Prison Violence, Ethnography & Moral Dualism with Prof Kate Gooch

  Jun 17, 20261h 20mS2

  In this episode, Dr Omar Phoenix Khan speakswith Professor Kate Gooch, Professor in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Bath, about her ethnographic research in young offender institutions and her recently published book Prison Violence: In Search of Recognition and Respect (Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology). Kate is one of the leading scholars of youth custody and prison violence in England and Wales. Her research explores the causes, forms and dynamics of harmful activity within custody, including violence, homicide, self-harm and organised crime, with a particular focus on the moral, social and cultural contexts in which harm is produced. She regularly presents her findings to HMPPS, the Youth Justice Board, the Ministry of Justice and HM Inspectorate of Prisons, and trains prison senior management teams. The conversation covers Kate's concept of carceral capital as a richer alternative to hegemonic masculinity for understanding why young men in custody are violent. Moving beyond gender performance, carceral capital encompasses material display, custodial experience, physical presence and the survival strategies young people carry in from youth custody and the street. Kate's account of what the stockpiling of Jaffa cakes actually signals, or the significance of a handshake, is a small illustration of the analytical work only serious ethnographic fieldwork makes possible. Kate reflects on what that fieldwork actually involves: embedded over many months across landings, adjudications, segregation, carol services and away days, doing what the officers called "loitering with intent." She is candid about the gender politics of conducting research in men's prisons as a woman, the concept of moral dualism that shapes her positionality, and why she is not, as she puts it, a totalabolitionist, while making a clear case that the conditions in which young people are held are themselves an injustice. The episode also examines the relationship between trauma and violence. Kate recounts a searing adjudication hearing inwhich a young man disclosed at the close of proceedings that a family member had just died in a crash. There was simply nothing in the infrastructure to meet that moment. This, she argues, is how distress becomes violence: not because these young men are defined by the worst thing they have done, but because custody forecloses every other form of discharge. This episode will interest anyone working inor thinking about youth custody, prison violence, ethnographic methods and the politics of what counts as justice inside a sentence. Read Kate's work: Gooch, K. (2026). Prison Violence : In Search of Recognition and Respect . Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan. Doolan, C. & Gooch, K. (2021) Preventing prison staff assaults . Gooch, K. (2020). “You’ve got a Hard Edge ”: The Gender Politics, Complexities and Intimacies Undertaking Prison Research at the Edge. In Prison Stories: Women Scholars’ Experiences Doing Research Behind Bars. Also mentioned: Maguire, D. (2021) Male, Failed, Jailed : Masculinities and"Revolving-Door" Imprisonment in the UK - Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology (Referenced in episode) See Episodes 9-10 with Dr David Maguire 21: Prof. Alison Liebling - Appreciative Inquiry and the moral performance of prisons 25: Prof. Ben Crewe - Understanding Life Imprisonment Prof Kate Gooch | University of Bath Keywords: youth custody, young offender institutions, prison violence, self-harm, carceral capital, hegemonic masculinity, ethnography, HMIP inspections, trauma, youth justice, moral dualism, custodial conditions, austerity, positionality, women in prison research. Podcast researched & hosted by Dr Omar Phoenix Khan , University of Bath. Theme music by SHEZ .

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  Episode #34

  34: Creating the Demand for Better Crime Policy with Dr Janeille Zorina Matthews

  May 13, 202642 minS2

  Can changing the story we tell about crime actually change the policies that follow? In this episode, Dr Omar Phoenix Khan speaks with Dr Janeille Zorina Matthews, multidisciplinary criminal justice scholar, Deputy Dean, and Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, about her work at the intersections of criminology, law, storytelling, and social justice in the Anglophone Caribbean. Dr. Matthews has written extensively on sexual violence in Antigua and Barbuda, examining how a cluster of high-profile cases in the early 2000s shaped public consciousness, behavioural patterns, and media representations of crime for years that followed. She reflects on what that moment revealed about how crime narratives form — and how reframing the discourse around sexual violence can open space for more constructive, survivor-centred conversations. The conversation turns to Dr. Matthews' work on narrative change and crime policy, drawing on her article 'Creating the Demand for Better Crime Policy', in which she argues that Qualitative Frame Analysis (QFA) can be used as a methodological tool to interrogate "tough on crime" rhetoric — exposing how politicians, media, and other actors manufacture public consent for punitive approaches that often misrepresent the true nature of crime. Shifting those frames, she argues, is essential to creating the conditions for more effective and humane policies. The episode also explores the persistence of colonial legacies in penal practices across the Anglophone Caribbean, the growing importance of Southern and decolonial criminologies in reimagining the discipline, and how Dr. Matthews' contribution to the UNDP's first Caribbean Human Development Report and her leadership of the UWI Rights Advocacy Project connect research to real struggles for human rights and decarceration. This episode is for anyone interested in criminology, crime policy reform, the politics of narrative, and how the Caribbean is contributing vital new perspectives to global debates about crime and punishment. Read Dr. Matthews' work: Matthews, J. Z. (2020). 'Creating the demand for better crime policy: Qualitative Frame Analysis as a vehicle for social transformation.' The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice , 59(3), 325–342. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12386 Matthews, J. Z. & Robinson, T. (2019). 'Modern Vagrancy in the Anglophone Caribbean.' Caribbean Journal of Criminology , 1(4), 123–154. Matthews, J. Z. (2017). 'Social Constructions of Crime in Antigua and Barbuda.' In Joosen & Bailey (eds), Caribbean Crime & Criminal Justice: Impacts of Post-Colonialism and Gender on Crime . Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Caribbean-Crime-and-Criminal-Justice-Impacts-of-Post-Colonialism-and-Gender-on-Crime/Joosen-Bailey/p/book/9780367888534 UWI Rights Advocacy Project: https://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/law/staff-profile/dr-janeille-zorina-matthews/ Dr. Janeille Zorina Matthews | University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Dr. Omar Phoenix Khan | @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/ Keywords: Caribbean criminology, crime policy, narrative change, Qualitative Frame Analysis, colonial legacies, rape, sexual violence, decarceration, Southern criminology, Anglophone Caribbean, penal reform, storytelling for social justice, tough on crime, UWI Rights Advocacy Project, UNDP

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  Episode #33

  33: Parole, Probation & The Pains of Hope with Prof Harry Annison

  Apr 30, 20261h 6mS2

  What does it mean to hope when thesystem has already decided your fate? In this episode, Dr Omar Phoenix Khan speaks with Professor Harry Annison from Southampton Law School, about penal politics, the families of indeterminate-sentenced prisoners, and why storytelling is at the heart of how criminal justice systems change, or fail to. Harry is one of the leading scholars of penal policy in England and Wales. His work sits at the intersection of criminology, law and political science, and draws on hundreds of interviewswith senior policymakers, practitioners, families, and people in the justice system. He has collaborated with the Prison Reform Trust and the Howard League for Penal Reform, and has completed multiple ESRC-funded projects including Rehabilitating Probation , a major longitudinal study of the re-nationalisation of probation services in England and Wales. His OUP monograph, Dangerous Politics , remains the definitive account of the politics of the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence. In this conversation, Harry reflects on what drew him to parole and probation, the differences and unexpected similarities between interviewing elite policymakers and researching the families of those they govern. The episode focuses on his co-authored paper with Prof Rachel Condry, ' The Pains of Hope ' ( British Journal of Criminology , 2022), which examines the experiences of families of IPP-sentenced prisoners and their often extraordinary campaigns for justice.Harry explains how a sentence officially abolished in 2012 continues to imprison thousands, and what it costs the people who love them. The conversation also explores a thread running through much of Harry's work: the power of narrative and storyline in shaping, and sometimes distorting, criminaljustice policy. Harry also reflects candidly on his approach to writing and his experience as an editor across several leading journals. This episode will interest anyone working in or thinking about penal reform, indeterminate sentencing, probation, policymaking, or the human costs of criminal justice. Professor Harry Annison | SouthamptonLaw School Key works discussed: Annison, H. & Condry, R. (2022). The painsof hope: families of indeterminate sentenced prisoners and political campaigning by lay citizens. British Journal of Criminology , 62(5), 1252–1269. doi:10.1093/bjc/azac039 Annison, H. (2015). Dangerous Politics : Risk, Political Vulnerability, and Penal Policy . Oxford University Press. Annison, H., Burke, L., Carr, N., Millings, M., Robinson, G. & Surridge, E. (2023). Making good? A study of how seniorpolicy makers narrate policy reversal. British Journal of Criminology . doi:10.1093/bjc/azad054 Annison, H. (2022). The role of storylines in penal policy change. Punishment & Society . https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474521989533 Podcast researched & hosted by ⁠⁠Dr Omar Phoenix Khan⁠⁠ ,University of Bath. Theme music by ⁠⁠SHEZ⁠⁠ .

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