Criminology Student Conference

On the 21 November, we attended a Criminology Conference in Euston with Ms Agnihotri, which allowed us to gain insight into the UK criminal justice system. The event included five speakers that all disused different issues regarding the process of solving crimes, the detection of crime and patterns of criminality. The first speaker was Steven Duffy, an ex-detective for the Metropolitan Police. His talk allowed us to understand the difficulty of investigating crimes and the stages taken in order to solve the crime. He also gave us a brief outline of the number of guidelines/policies officers needed to follow when investigating a crime. The second speaker Dr Irene Zempi highlighted the increasing issue of hate crime throughout the UK, especially since the vote for Brexit. This was a revelation, as living in a multi-cultural community such as Harrow you are unable to see the extent in which hate crimes are prominent in the UK. Zempi especially focused on crimes against Muslims, she wore the veil for 4 weeks in Leicester and she found that level of intolerance was high. She also outlined the different types of hate crimes and how difficult it is to detect. The third speaker Dr Zoe Walkington explain the factors of lying and the inaccuracy of the lie detectors. The fourth speaker was Dr Lyndsey Harris, spoke about domestic abuse and its lasting effects. The fifth and final speaker Noel ‘razor’ Smith, someone who told us about his experience as a professional criminal. Noel was a convicted bank robber who was able to change his life through his writing. His personal accounts of police brutality and the shocking methods for deterring youths from crimes helped us understand his long and violent criminal history, but what stood out most was that he was able to turn it around. Noel was able to learn to read and write while he was incarcerated and used this skill to write he bestselling book ‘A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun’, which became his way out of his criminal career. By this conference, we had a wider understanding of the criminal justice system in its both successes and failures.

By Safa Rabileh & Sebnem Cassim (Yr 13 Sociology Students)