• Crime and Justice
• Economy and Politics
• abolition of the prison
• alternatives to prison
• prison abolition
• The Howard League for Penal Reform
• The Howard League for Penal Reform
• Events

The Howard League for Penal Reform is organising and hosting the above international conference to develop the case for the abolition of prison and to rethink penal policy. The conference will discuss and hear about the impact of the penal system on our communities and provide suggestions for new and alternative approaches. It will look at custody and community interventions as alternatives to imprisonment; prisons and the politics of poverty; the role of the media and public opinion; and the role of privatisation and capitalism in penal policy today.

ICOPA XII will host international speakers dealing with the ancillary, fiscal and human costs of crime and punishment in the 21st century and will look at other possibilities and approaches outside of a failing crime control agenda.

Key themes and plenary sessions for the conference include:

· Creating a scandal - prison abolition and the policy agenda

· Prison and the politics of poverty

· The role of privatisation and capitalism in penal policy

· Penal abolition, the media and the public

Confirmed speakers so far include:
· Professor Thomas Mathieson, University of Oslo
· Professor Joe Sim, Liverpool John Moores University
· Frances Crook, Director, The Howard League for Penal Reform
· Stephen Nathan, Editor, Prison Privatisation Report International
· Moazzamm Begg, Former Guantanamo detainee and spokesman for Cageprisoners
· Raphael Rowe, Journalist, BBC
· Professor David Wilson, Birmingham City University and vice-chair, The Howard League for Penal Reform
· Professor Barry Goldson, The University of Liverpool
· Professor Phil Scraton PhD, Queen's University, Belfast
· Clive Stafford Smith, Director, Reprieve

For more information on ICOPA XII, including the submission of papers and applications for poster presentations, please visit the website www.icopa12london.org.uk or email hannah.mcfaull@howardleague.org

This is not an Ekklesia event, however we fully support its aims