David Scott | The Open University (original) (raw)
Books by David Scott
Bristol University Press, 2025
Abolitionist thought visualises a world without prisons – or a radical reduction or transformatio... more Abolitionist thought visualises a world without prisons – or a radical reduction or transformation of prisons and punishment. This fascinating book explores the abolitionist ideas of key early socialists and anarchists, writing from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. It considers how these radical thinkers can provide insights into our present condition, both by highlighting the harms of punishment and by pointing to inspiring alternatives to current policy and practice.
By examining their calls for the ending of legal coercion, domination and repression, the book shows how the ideas of early socialists and anarchists can assist those engaging in emancipatory struggles against penal and social injustice today.
Bristol University Press, 2025
Why have so many radical thinkers advocated for the abolition of prisons and punishment? And why ... more Why have so many radical thinkers advocated for the abolition of prisons and punishment? And why have their ideas been so difficult to popularise or garner the political will for change? This book outlines several different approaches to penal abolitionism and showcases their calls for the ending of legal coercion, domination, and repression.
This exciting and innovative edited collection shows how abolitionist ideas have continued topicality and relevance in the present day and how they can collectively help with devising new ways of thinking about social problems as well as suggesting alternatives to existing penal policies, practices and institutions.
Palgrave, 2023
Steven Box’s book Power, Crime and Mystification was published in 1983. This path-breaking book c... more Steven Box’s book Power, Crime and Mystification was published in 1983. This path-breaking book came exactly a decade after Taylor et al’s The New Criminology which not only brought a new critical perspective to criminology but also generated a rich body of new work in its path which challenged not only the dominant discourses around crime but also the claim that state institutions were neutral in how power was exercised. As the new criminologists recognized, such a position was impossible in a society that was deeply divided between the powerful and the powerless.
Power, Crime and Mystification crystalized and brought together many of the themes which had been identified by critical criminologists over the previous decade and had a major impact on its publication. In six chapters, Box brilliantly argued for the deconstruction of official discourse around crime situating his analysis firmly in the context of power, powerlessness and social divisions and the demystification of what actions were harmful to the wider society. He did his through critically considering a range of case studies in relation to corporate crime, police crime rape and female crime. In between the four case studies, Box considered how definitions of crime had to be demystified within the context of moving from criminal justice to social justice and developing structures of democratic accountability to ensure justice for all.
This collection is designed both to revisit the original text and to consider its relevance thirty years on. It will make direct reference to the critical analysis developed by Box in 1983 and critically analyses the continuities and discontinuities since that time in relation to crime, the state and the exercise/mystification of power.
The chapters will be ordered thematically following the logic of the original text and will assess the contribution of each to critical criminology at that time, the conjectural moment of the first Thatcher government.
Edited by David Scott and Joe Sim
Routledge , 2021
This book brings together 60 contributions on penal abolition from people in prison, activists an... more This book brings together 60 contributions on penal abolition from people in prison, activists and scholars from all around the world. Co- Edited with Michael J Coyle,.
Published by Routledge.
Waterside Press, 2020
For Abolition: Prisons and socialist ethics Contents Foreword: Joe Sim Preface Acknowledge... more For Abolition:
Prisons and socialist ethics
Contents
Foreword: Joe Sim
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. For abolition: the prison puzzle and socialist ethics
2. Abolitionist ethical hermeneutics: hearing and interpreting voice
3. Invisible brutal hands: the problem of prison officer violence
4. Phantom faces at the window: prisons, dignity and moral exclusion
5. Prison is not a home: estrangement and the prison zone of abandonment
6. Falling softly to your grave: time consciousness and the death bound subject
7. Abolitionism as a philosophy of hope: system ‘inside-outsiders’, socialism and the reclaiming of democracy
8. Ordinary rebels, everyone: abolitionist scholarship and activism
9. The abolitionist imagination: ethics of empathy, dignity and life
Afterword
Bibliography
Waterside Press, 2018
Foreword: Emma Bell Preface Chapter 1: Against imprisonment Chapter 2: Walking among the g... more Foreword: Emma Bell
Preface
Chapter 1: Against imprisonment
Chapter 2: Walking among the graves of the living
Chapter 3: Escaping the logic of ‘crime’
Chapter 4: Justifications of punishment and questions of penal legitimacy
Chapter 5: The changing face of the prison
Chapter 6: Problematising ‘common sense’ understandings of prison violence
Chapter 7: Contesting the spirit of death
Chapter 8: Saying NO to the mega prison
Chapter 9: Unequalled in pain
Bibliography
David Scott (with Emma Bell, Joanna Gilmore, Helen Gosling, J M Moore and Faith Spear) Foreword ... more David Scott (with Emma Bell, Joanna Gilmore, Helen Gosling, J M Moore and Faith Spear)
Foreword by Ida Nafstad and Per Jorgen Ystehede
Prologue
1.Introduction: Emancipatory Politics and Praxis
Section A: Critical criminology and the utopian imagination
2.Critical criminology and the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control [with Joanna Gilmore and JM Moore]
3.Re-awakening our radical imagination: thinking realistically about utopias, dystopias and the non-penal [with Emma Bell]
4.A disobedient visionary with an enquiring mind: an essay on the contribution of Stanley Cohen
5.Critical criminology in the corporate university
Section B: Iatrogenic penal harms and visions of justice
6.Beyond criminal justice: it’s a long road to wisdom, but a short one to being ignored [with JM Moore]
7.Constance Lytton: living for a cause [with Faith Spear]
8.Speaking the language of state violence: an abolitionist perspective
9.Against criminal injustice, for social justice: reflections and possibilities
Section C: Abolitionist real utopia
10.Reimagining citizenship: justice, responsibility and non-penal real utopias [with Emma Bell]
11.Otherwise than prisons, not prisons otherwise: therapeutic communities as non-penal real utopias [with Helena Gosling]
12.Playing the get out of jail for free card: creating a new abolitionist based consensus?
Epilogue
An anthology of papers on penal abolition delivered at conferences of the European Group for the ... more An anthology of papers on penal abolition delivered at conferences of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control
Academia EDU, 1994
The intentions of 'community policing' are extensively contested. The research in Burscough, Orms... more The intentions of 'community policing' are extensively contested. The research in Burscough, Ormskirk and Skelmersdale is an attempt to clarify the issues and determine the success, or failure, of this approach to policing in terms of image and effectiveness.
The study includes the perceptions of contemporary policing practices from three hundred members of the public, one hundred from each of the areas specified above. The investigation also incorporates extensive interviews with six officers, whose responses are utilised in the body of the text so that an in-depth perspective of the police interpretation of community policing can be analysed.
Both aspects are combined so that a capacious impression of current opinions can be attained and thus develop an understanding of the way the police in Southwest Lancashire can be considered as community responsive.
Articles by David Scott
Lancashire History Federation Newsletter , 2022
In this short article I first briefly give an overview of the 1826 weavers’ uprising in East/ Pen... more In this short article I first briefly give an overview of the 1826 weavers’ uprising in East/ Pennine Lancashire, before proceeding to give an outline of the goals and objectives of the recently formed bicentennial committee and how it plans to work towards the 200th anniversary of the uprising in 2026.
Punishment and Society , 2024
Bristol University Press, 2025
Abolitionist thought visualises a world without prisons – or a radical reduction or transformatio... more Abolitionist thought visualises a world without prisons – or a radical reduction or transformation of prisons and punishment. This fascinating book explores the abolitionist ideas of key early socialists and anarchists, writing from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. It considers how these radical thinkers can provide insights into our present condition, both by highlighting the harms of punishment and by pointing to inspiring alternatives to current policy and practice.
By examining their calls for the ending of legal coercion, domination and repression, the book shows how the ideas of early socialists and anarchists can assist those engaging in emancipatory struggles against penal and social injustice today.
Bristol University Press, 2025
Why have so many radical thinkers advocated for the abolition of prisons and punishment? And why ... more Why have so many radical thinkers advocated for the abolition of prisons and punishment? And why have their ideas been so difficult to popularise or garner the political will for change? This book outlines several different approaches to penal abolitionism and showcases their calls for the ending of legal coercion, domination, and repression.
This exciting and innovative edited collection shows how abolitionist ideas have continued topicality and relevance in the present day and how they can collectively help with devising new ways of thinking about social problems as well as suggesting alternatives to existing penal policies, practices and institutions.
Palgrave, 2023
Steven Box’s book Power, Crime and Mystification was published in 1983. This path-breaking book c... more Steven Box’s book Power, Crime and Mystification was published in 1983. This path-breaking book came exactly a decade after Taylor et al’s The New Criminology which not only brought a new critical perspective to criminology but also generated a rich body of new work in its path which challenged not only the dominant discourses around crime but also the claim that state institutions were neutral in how power was exercised. As the new criminologists recognized, such a position was impossible in a society that was deeply divided between the powerful and the powerless.
Power, Crime and Mystification crystalized and brought together many of the themes which had been identified by critical criminologists over the previous decade and had a major impact on its publication. In six chapters, Box brilliantly argued for the deconstruction of official discourse around crime situating his analysis firmly in the context of power, powerlessness and social divisions and the demystification of what actions were harmful to the wider society. He did his through critically considering a range of case studies in relation to corporate crime, police crime rape and female crime. In between the four case studies, Box considered how definitions of crime had to be demystified within the context of moving from criminal justice to social justice and developing structures of democratic accountability to ensure justice for all.
This collection is designed both to revisit the original text and to consider its relevance thirty years on. It will make direct reference to the critical analysis developed by Box in 1983 and critically analyses the continuities and discontinuities since that time in relation to crime, the state and the exercise/mystification of power.
The chapters will be ordered thematically following the logic of the original text and will assess the contribution of each to critical criminology at that time, the conjectural moment of the first Thatcher government.
Edited by David Scott and Joe Sim
Routledge , 2021
This book brings together 60 contributions on penal abolition from people in prison, activists an... more This book brings together 60 contributions on penal abolition from people in prison, activists and scholars from all around the world. Co- Edited with Michael J Coyle,.
Published by Routledge.
Waterside Press, 2020
For Abolition: Prisons and socialist ethics Contents Foreword: Joe Sim Preface Acknowledge... more For Abolition:
Prisons and socialist ethics
Contents
Foreword: Joe Sim
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. For abolition: the prison puzzle and socialist ethics
2. Abolitionist ethical hermeneutics: hearing and interpreting voice
3. Invisible brutal hands: the problem of prison officer violence
4. Phantom faces at the window: prisons, dignity and moral exclusion
5. Prison is not a home: estrangement and the prison zone of abandonment
6. Falling softly to your grave: time consciousness and the death bound subject
7. Abolitionism as a philosophy of hope: system ‘inside-outsiders’, socialism and the reclaiming of democracy
8. Ordinary rebels, everyone: abolitionist scholarship and activism
9. The abolitionist imagination: ethics of empathy, dignity and life
Afterword
Bibliography
Waterside Press, 2018
Foreword: Emma Bell Preface Chapter 1: Against imprisonment Chapter 2: Walking among the g... more Foreword: Emma Bell
Preface
Chapter 1: Against imprisonment
Chapter 2: Walking among the graves of the living
Chapter 3: Escaping the logic of ‘crime’
Chapter 4: Justifications of punishment and questions of penal legitimacy
Chapter 5: The changing face of the prison
Chapter 6: Problematising ‘common sense’ understandings of prison violence
Chapter 7: Contesting the spirit of death
Chapter 8: Saying NO to the mega prison
Chapter 9: Unequalled in pain
Bibliography
David Scott (with Emma Bell, Joanna Gilmore, Helen Gosling, J M Moore and Faith Spear) Foreword ... more David Scott (with Emma Bell, Joanna Gilmore, Helen Gosling, J M Moore and Faith Spear)
Foreword by Ida Nafstad and Per Jorgen Ystehede
Prologue
1.Introduction: Emancipatory Politics and Praxis
Section A: Critical criminology and the utopian imagination
2.Critical criminology and the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control [with Joanna Gilmore and JM Moore]
3.Re-awakening our radical imagination: thinking realistically about utopias, dystopias and the non-penal [with Emma Bell]
4.A disobedient visionary with an enquiring mind: an essay on the contribution of Stanley Cohen
5.Critical criminology in the corporate university
Section B: Iatrogenic penal harms and visions of justice
6.Beyond criminal justice: it’s a long road to wisdom, but a short one to being ignored [with JM Moore]
7.Constance Lytton: living for a cause [with Faith Spear]
8.Speaking the language of state violence: an abolitionist perspective
9.Against criminal injustice, for social justice: reflections and possibilities
Section C: Abolitionist real utopia
10.Reimagining citizenship: justice, responsibility and non-penal real utopias [with Emma Bell]
11.Otherwise than prisons, not prisons otherwise: therapeutic communities as non-penal real utopias [with Helena Gosling]
12.Playing the get out of jail for free card: creating a new abolitionist based consensus?
Epilogue
An anthology of papers on penal abolition delivered at conferences of the European Group for the ... more An anthology of papers on penal abolition delivered at conferences of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control
Academia EDU, 1994
The intentions of 'community policing' are extensively contested. The research in Burscough, Orms... more The intentions of 'community policing' are extensively contested. The research in Burscough, Ormskirk and Skelmersdale is an attempt to clarify the issues and determine the success, or failure, of this approach to policing in terms of image and effectiveness.
The study includes the perceptions of contemporary policing practices from three hundred members of the public, one hundred from each of the areas specified above. The investigation also incorporates extensive interviews with six officers, whose responses are utilised in the body of the text so that an in-depth perspective of the police interpretation of community policing can be analysed.
Both aspects are combined so that a capacious impression of current opinions can be attained and thus develop an understanding of the way the police in Southwest Lancashire can be considered as community responsive.
Lancashire History Federation Newsletter , 2022
In this short article I first briefly give an overview of the 1826 weavers’ uprising in East/ Pen... more In this short article I first briefly give an overview of the 1826 weavers’ uprising in East/ Pennine Lancashire, before proceeding to give an outline of the goals and objectives of the recently formed bicentennial committee and how it plans to work towards the 200th anniversary of the uprising in 2026.
Punishment and Society , 2024
Studies: An Irish Quarterly Journal , 2024
This article reflects upon questions around penal legitimacy and the importance of sowing the se... more This article reflects upon questions around penal legitimacy and the
importance of sowing the seeds of change in Irish penal policy. It is argued
that prisons should be regarded as an inherently problematic institutional
response to criminalised behaviours and that further prison reforms are an
insufficient remedy to such endemic problems. In so doing it is hoped that
the article will help open a space for reflections on a very a different way of
approaching penal and social harms in Ireland – the idea of penal abolition.
Prison abolitionists ask us to consider whether the harm and suffering created by prisons and punishment are justified. People normally think harming other people is morally wrong, and penal abolitionists argue that if the grounds for penal confinement are not morally water-tight, then we should abandon our presumption of imprisonment in response to human wrongdoing and instead develop rational alternatives that are morally justifiable
Manchester Histories, 2022
Handloom weavers in the nineteenth century were known to be a hard-working and compliant workforc... more Handloom weavers in the nineteenth century were known to be a hard-working and compliant workforce who faced periodic poverty with stoical resilience. Yet in east Lancashire in April 1826 their patience clearly broke. Faced with a perfect storm of high food prices, low or no wages, the accumulative impact of poverty over several years and the introduction of much cheaper forms of weaving through powerlooms in the factories, the handloom weavers and other ordinary people felt they had no choice but to respond to the very real threat of mass starvation and related illnesses and premature deaths with rebellion. The significance of the events of April 1826 have though been largely forgotten and so a new charity has been formed – The Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee – to work towards the remembrance of the context, happenings and aftermath of the weavers uprising.
HERC, 2022
In this short article Dr David Scott questions, from a penal abolitionist perspective, whether th... more In this short article Dr David Scott questions, from a penal abolitionist perspective, whether the criminal law can be effectively deployed to prevent climate catastrophe. In so doing he questions the goals of influential pressure group Stop Ecocide International and highlights the importance of the recent book Ecocide by Professor David Whyte, which calls for ordinary people all around the world to directly challenge corporate power.
HERC, 2022
Between 24-28 th April 2022, Dr David Scott initiated and led the inaugural 'Weavers Uprising Rem... more Between 24-28 th April 2022, Dr David Scott initiated and led the inaugural 'Weavers Uprising Remembrance Walk', a 45 mile walk following in the footsteps of starving handloom weavers in east Lancashire 196 years ago. During this uprising handloom weavers and other working class people attempted to send a symbolic message to government about their precarious living conditions through the destruction of more than 1,100 powerlooms in the local mills.
Scott initiated and led the inaugural 'Weavers Uprising Remembrance Walk', a 45 mile walk followi... more Scott initiated and led the inaugural 'Weavers Uprising Remembrance Walk', a 45 mile walk following in the footsteps of starving handloom weavers in east Lancashire 196 years ago. During this uprising handloom weavers and other working class people attempted to send a symbolic message to government about their precarious living conditions through the destruction of more than 1,100 powerlooms in the local mills.
HERC, 2022
An overview of the events at Chatterton, Ramsbottom, East Lancashire on the morning of 26th April... more An overview of the events at Chatterton, Ramsbottom, East Lancashire on the morning of 26th April 1826, where six people were shot dead by British Soldiers.
James Lord, John Ashworth, James Rothwell, Richard Lund, Mary Simpson and James Whatacre.
HERC, 2022
During this uprising handloom weavers and other working class people attempted to send a symbolic... more During this uprising handloom weavers and other working class people attempted to send a symbolic message to government about their precarious living conditions through the destruction of more than 1,100 powerlooms in the local mills.
HERC, 2021
While prisons have been in existence since at least Egyptian times, it was only in the late 1700s... more While prisons have been in existence since at least Egyptian times, it was only in the late 1700s that prisons were proposed as places of rehabilitation in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US). At that time, utilitarian philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and Christian evangelicals, like John Howard in the UK, alongside prison reformers like Benjamin Rush in the US, proposed that prisons could be conduits for radically changing individuals for the better.
HERC, 2021
A discussion of undertaking legal activism on prisons in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
HERC, 2020
The political fallout following the death of George Floyd, who died on the 25 th May 2020 during ... more The political fallout following the death of George Floyd, who died on the 25 th May 2020 during a coercive physical restraint by a police officer in Minneapolis, USA and the revival of Black Lives Matter on a global level, has placed renewed emphasis on calls for defunding the state police and greater acknowledgement of the brutal British colonial past. These calls, alongside those for further recognition of the manner in which British wealth is in large part historically derived from the slave trade, have great significance for penal abolitionism (a moral philosophy which questions all forms of legal repression and dehumanisation). In the UK one of the main mobilising events of Black Lives Matter has been to call for the pulling down of statues and monuments which were erected to honour slave traders, such as the statue of seventeenth century slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Given this renewed emphasis on the British slave trade, should penal abolitionists today take inspiration from anti-slavery abolitionists in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and the broader political culture in Britain at that time? The short answer, I would argue, is NO. The bourgeois British liberal anti-slavery 'abolitionism from above' was not an emancipatory social movement like Black Lives Matter, nor did it connect with, or was motivated by, the experiences and voice of former slaves, as was sometimes the case in the USA anti-slavery movement during the mid-1800s. If we are looking for inspiration when challenging legal repression, dehumanisation and state coercion, then it is to the lived experiences and testimonies of slaves and former slaves, such as the American former slave Frederick Douglas, or Toussaint
Open Learn , 2020
Short discussion on prisons and coronavirus in England and Wales in May 2020
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, 2020
This short article for CCJS talks about the importance of making visible prison officer violence ... more This short article for CCJS talks about the importance of making visible prison officer violence in prisons in England and Wales
New Socialist, 2020
Thinking critically about the coronavirus (COVID19) means thinking about the exercise of power an... more Thinking critically about the coronavirus (COVID19) means thinking about the exercise of power and social divisions. While it has been reported that the rich have been jetting off to private islands, and while celebrities have been paying for testing and then unashamedly proclaiming to the world that they are not infected, as ever it is the economically and socially vulnerable who are being harmed by this pulverising virus. The brutal imposition of free market capitalism, and the retrenchment of social democratic states from policing the economic and harmful activities of the powerful, lie at the root of the crisis. It is these processes, and the systemic indifference to their human costs, which are now proving to be the gravediggers of the powerless.
HERC, 2019
An overview of the making of The Open University Film 'Grenfell Tower and Social Murder', which d... more An overview of the making of The Open University Film 'Grenfell Tower and Social Murder', which draws upon the testimonies of bereaved families and survivors. The film was awarded the 'life changing award' at the British Film Documentary Festival in November 2018. It was also awarded three further awards.
World Gold Medal at New York Festivals TV and Film Awards for The Open University Film ‘Grenfell Tower and Social Murder’ (2020)
Vcom Gold Clarion Award for best Education and Training film for The Open University Film ‘Grenfell Tower and Social Murder’ (2019)
EVcom Gold Clarion Award for best Social Welfare film for The Open University Film ‘Grenfell Tower and Social Murder’ (2019)
New Socialist, 2019
A call for the abolition of prisons for children and young people in England and Wales.
HERC, 2019
Drawing upon two case studies - regarding hearing the voice of prisoners and community activists ... more Drawing upon two case studies - regarding hearing the voice of prisoners and community activists - this short paper explores the limitations of discourse ethics and the importance of engaging in non-reciprocal dialogue for abolitionist activist scholars. I
Open University HERC and Centre for Crime, Criminalisation and Social Exclusion LJMU September 20... more Open University HERC and Centre for Crime, Criminalisation and Social Exclusion LJMU September 2018
With Professor Joe Sim
Envisioning Abolition , 2025
Abolitionist Vices , 2025
Abolitionist Voices, 2025
Demystifying Power, Crime and Social Harm , 2024
Archives , 2024
An account of the main aims of the charity commemorating the weavers uprising of 1826.
Demystifying Power, Crime and Social Harm , 2024
Prison Chaplaincy and Catholic Socialist Thought , 2023
The Routledge International Handbook of Penal Abolitionism, 2021
The Routledge International Handbook of Penal Abolitionism,
Chapter in the international handbook on public criminologies
No Prison, 2018
A manifesto exploring 20 key questions that can be presented as challenges to the penal abolitionist
Duggan, M. (ed) (2018) The Ideal Victim Revisited Bristol: Policy Press, 2018
Foreword to Duggan, M. (ed) (2018) The Ideal Victim Revisited Bristol: Policy Press
Conversations: “Researching community policing and critical criminology” With Dr David Scott, Sen... more Conversations: “Researching community policing and critical criminology”
With Dr David Scott, Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University
The best way to engage with critical analysis is to actually undertake a piece of ethnographic research. I’m going to briefly discuss here my first research project, now more than twenty years ago, on community policing in Lancashire and how it helped me develop my ideas as a critical criminologist.
This chapter builds upon the insights of Enrique Dussel (2013) to explore the moral underpinnings... more This chapter builds upon the insights of Enrique Dussel (2013) to explore the moral underpinnings of a human rights framework for penal abolitionism and the subsequent ethical demand for political action. In the first part of the chapter it is argued that through their daily workings prisons structurally deny human rights: moral relationships cannot be fully formed between prisoners or between prisoners and prison staff; the inherent conflict and antagonism of the prison damage the formation of human identity; violations of dignity undermine the self by preventing voluntary intersubjective human relations; and the pains of imprisonment systematically generate suffering and death. Having established the inherent harms of the prison place the chapter then moves on to explore Dussel’s (2013) ethical demand for political resistance in response to denials of human rights. This leads to a focus on grass roots resistance to human rights infringements and the promotion of the common humanity of prisoners through direct, community based action in England and Wales. Drawing upon the campaign work of the author and his direct interventions in against the construction of a number of mega-prisons in England and Wales since November 2015, the chapter paints a picture of the intimate connections between abolitionism praxis and human rights. Overall the chapter reflects upon some of the core contemporary strategies and interventions ‘from below’ deployed by abolitionist activists to challenge the inhumanity of prisons in England and Wales in the second decade of the 21st Century.
Anti Prison Activism (edited By Emily Luise Hart), 2018
.This chapter draws upon the issues emphasised by abolitionist activists in their struggles throu... more .This chapter draws upon the issues emphasised by abolitionist activists in their struggles throughout 2017 (and before) to challenge government plans to build at least six new mega prisons in England and Wales by 2020. This activist contribution focuses specifically on the arguments utilised by campaigners in one of the proposed sites for a new mega prison: Bickershaw, in the borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester.
In this chapter it is argued that an understanding of slavery as a social relationship can be inc... more In this chapter it is argued that an understanding of slavery as a social relationship can be incorporated into a penal abolitionist framework in Britain, albeit one which utilises primarily the language of human rights.
There are two central elements to the logic of ‘crime’: criminal harm and criminal blame. The ai... more There are two central elements to the logic of ‘crime’: criminal harm and criminal blame. The aim of this chapter is to critically explore both these elements. The chapter starts with a discussion of how the ontological foundations of criminal harm can be successfully deconstructed (Hulsman, 1986a, 1986b). This is followed by an account which questions the moral legitimacy of criminal blame through the lens of liberation philosophy and the ‘ethics of responsibility’ (Dussel, 2013). The central claim is that penal abolitionism is a philosophy of liberation that stands outside the logic of ‘crime’ which aims to initiate non-penal ways of handling individual and social conflicts.
The chapter reflects upon the implications of ignorance (penological agnosis) regarding the conte... more The chapter reflects upon the implications of ignorance (penological agnosis) regarding the contemporary harms and suffering of imprisonment and the current rise of ‘historical denial’ when looking at evidence to explain and understand the humanitarian disaster confronting prisons in England and Wales today.
The chapter is about the politics and ethics of criminological research and it starts by defining... more The chapter is about the politics and ethics of criminological research and it starts by defining the philosophical conceptions of ‘ontology’ and ‘epistemology’, which are referred to throughout the following discussion. In so doing, examples of prison research are drawn upon to illustrate important political and ethical considerations. The chapter provides a critical review of the politics of criminological research from an abolitionist perspective, locating social research within the context of state power, social divisions and conflicting interests
Companion to Criminal Justice, Health and Risk, 2014
The Guardian, 2019
Martin Narey is undoubtedly correct to argue that the prison is not a place that can effectively ... more Martin Narey is undoubtedly correct to argue that the prison is not a place that can effectively deliver rehabilitation. We have over 200 years of history evidencing how prisons have always been more likely to de-habilitate those they contain than rehabilitate them. For rehabilitation to be effective, people require individualised treatments and therapeutic interventions to address their specific behavioural difficulties. This is something that is virtually impossible to deliver within prisons. For someone to change in a positive way, it is essential they feel able to adopt a radical openness to others, for It is only by being open, and hence showing vulnerability, that new pro-social identities can be nurtured. Yet the fear of and/or actual presence of physical violence; the deprivations of basic human needs that characterise daily prison life; and the enforced separation from loved ones and intimate relationships, all block such an ability to be emotionally vulnerable. Indeed, rather than building new life-affirming relationships and/or therapeutic alliances, prisons overwhelmingly lead to endings and the breaking of significant ties, bonds and attachments. Prisons remain haunted by the pain, suffering and failure of their past and prisoners today are forced to endure a hostile daily existence which encourages watchfulness, anxiety, fear and the building of defences against self-disclosure.
The Times, 2019
Letter signed by 33 Criminologists in The Times, 15th August 2019. The drafters of the letter w... more Letter signed by 33 Criminologists in The Times, 15th August 2019. The drafters of the letter were Jonathan Jackson and Emmeline Taylor.
The Guardian, 2019
Prisons are soul-destroying pits of human misery that can lead to atrophy, stasis and trauma, wri... more Prisons are soul-destroying pits of human misery that can lead to atrophy, stasis and trauma, writes David Scott in The Guardian, 21st February 2019
Letter in The Guardian, 19th September 2018
The Guardian, 2018
Critique of 'Opinion' piece by Lord Falconer in The Guardian on the 20th August, 2018
It's time to take prison abolitionism seriously, argues David Scott.
The first part of the Novara Media interview on 'Prisons: Abolition or Reform'
The Independent, 2018
The Independent, 9th January 2018
The Guardian, 2017
The Guardian Newspaper, 22nd November 2017
Although the number of children in prison has fallen enormously since 2007, there are still more ... more Although the number of children in prison has fallen enormously since 2007, there are still more than 800 children in prison, of which 42 are under the age of 14.. 43% of children in prison are from BAME backgrounds (which is a significant rise in BAME child prisoners in 2007 when it was 24%) and significant numbers of children in custody have drug problems, learning difficulties, mental health problems and have witnessed or experienced physical or sexual violence. Although only 1% of children and young people are in care, more than 35% boys and 61% of girls in custody have previously been in care. Indeed, children in care are much more likely to be sent to prison than to go to University (where the figure is about 10%).
Why prison building doesn't lead to better lives and stronger communities
Letter published in The Guardian on 21st June 2016
Letter asking David Lidington, Justice Secretary to reconsider the plans of your predecessor Liz ... more Letter asking David Lidington, Justice Secretary to reconsider the plans of your predecessor Liz Truss to invest £1.3 Billion to create 10,000 modern prison places in England and Wales.
A number of arguments against building new prison in Bickershaw, Greater Manchester. A transcrip... more A number of arguments against building new prison in Bickershaw, Greater Manchester. A transcription of a talk by David Scott to the Wigan Trades Council, 6th June 2017.
Write up on interview on BBC Radio Five Live interview, 15th November 2016 on the "protest action... more Write up on interview on BBC Radio Five Live interview, 15th November 2016 on the "protest action" of prison staff. To hear the interview (which was as respondent to Shadow Justice Secretary see around 2 hour 10 minute on the below link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0829h29#play
Letter in The Guardian Newspaper, 27th March 2017
Response to the speech by Liz Truss, Justice Secretary, England and Wales, arguing that it is ess... more Response to the speech by Liz Truss, Justice Secretary, England and Wales, arguing that it is essential that we radically reduce the prison population.
In extreme circumstances or environments, psychological wellbeing can be precarious and effective... more In extreme circumstances or environments, psychological wellbeing can be precarious and effectively ‘under siege’ even for those with robust internal coping strategies. Prisons are such environments. They are places that can induce extreme stress and distress. For those living in the extreme environment of the prison the line between mental well-being and diagnosable or enduring mental illness can be blurred. There are three distinct, yet overlapping, populations to consider when taking account of mental health within prisons.
Those who are committed to prison with a pre-existing (either diagnosed or not) mental health condition. Prisons are places that tend to confine a disproportionate number of people with mental health problems. Mental health problems, for this population, is imported into prison with them.
Those who are committed to prison without a diagnosed pre-existing mental health problem but have a latent mental illness that can be triggered in the stressful or traumatic environment of the prison.
Those who are committed to prison without a pre-existing mental health problem and no history of mental health problems, but during the course of a prison sentence develop mental ill-health or experience extreme deterioration of psychological well-being.
Article on prison reduction and prison building moratorium as part of abolitionist strategy to en... more Article on prison reduction and prison building moratorium as part of abolitionist strategy to engage in current penological debates.
Article published in The Independent, February 16th 2017
TOA-MAGAZIN, 2018
This is the English and German translation of the article published in the German Restorative Jus... more This is the English and German translation of the article published in the German Restorative Justice Journal TOA-MAGAZIN on 3rd December 2018. The paper provides a friendly but critical account of Geoffroy De Lagasnerie (2018) Judge and Punish: The Penal State on Trial from an abolitionist perspective.
Book Review for Howard Journal, March 2017
WUBC, 2022
This is the founding document of the Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee [WUBC]. The founding... more This is the founding document of the Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee [WUBC]. The founding document has seven parts. It was published in April 2022
Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, 2022
Executive Summary This report sets out a response to the Ministry of Justice’s Proof of Evidence ... more Executive Summary
This report sets out a response to the Ministry of Justice’s Proof of Evidence submitted in June 2022. The findings presented here are based on independent research and scrutiny of official data collected as part of an ongoing research project that will offer the first in-depth analysis of the UK Government’s ‘prison modernisation’ agenda in England and Wales.
High /Court (Queens Bench Division), 2020
High Court (Queens Bench Division), 2020
High Court of Justice, 2020
R v Secretary of State for Justice (ex parte Davis) Report for the High Court of Justice (Quee... more R v Secretary of State for Justice (ex parte Davis)
Report for the High Court of Justice (Queens Bench Division) Administrative Court
Dr David Scott and Professor Joe Sim
Prepared 12th April 2020
Case R v Secretary of State for Justice (ex parte Davis) Heard in May 2020
(please see also a second supplementary report from 22nd April 2020)
Report, 2018
TEN STEPS Arguments for Reducing the Prison Population [A Policy Paper for the Labour Party] Dr D... more TEN STEPS
Arguments for Reducing the Prison Population
[A Policy Paper for the Labour Party]
Dr David Scott
The Open University
3rd September, 2018
Report, 2018
How to Reduce the Prison Population: Starting Points [A Briefing Paper for the Prison Minister... more How to Reduce the Prison Population:
Starting Points
[A Briefing Paper for the Prison Minister]
Dr David Scott
The Open University
25th May 2018
In extreme circumstances or environments, psychological wellbeing can be precarious and effective... more In extreme circumstances or environments, psychological wellbeing can be precarious and effectively ‘under siege’ even for those with robust internal coping strategies. Prisons are such environments. They are places that can induce extreme stress and distress. For those living in the extreme environment of the prison the line between mental well-being and diagnosable or enduring mental illness can be blurred. Thus, in this submission to the Mental Health and Deaths in Prison Inquiry we argue that a broad definition of mental health should be taken into account.
On the 3rd November 2016 the Conservative government published its white paper on prison reform. ... more On the 3rd November 2016 the Conservative government published its white paper on prison reform. This document is evidence to the Justice Committee on Prison Reform following the publication of the white paper.
Submission to Lammy Review of BAME representation in the Criminal Justice System, May 2016.
WUBC August 2024 Pamphlet 1 , 2024
The Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee was officially launched during the inaugural weavers ... more The Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee was officially launched during the inaugural weavers uprising remembrance walk by Dr David Gordon Scott at Whinney Hill, Accrington, on the morning of 24th April 2022. The inaugural walk covered approximately 45 miles over five days and broadly followed in the footsteps of the handloom weavers of 1826. On 26th April a wreath was laid to commemorate the six people who died at Chatterton and those who died later of social murder.
Lancashire Telegraph , 2023
Article by Harriet Heywood in the Lancashire Telegraph on the 197th Anniversary commemorations of... more Article by Harriet Heywood in the Lancashire Telegraph on the 197th Anniversary commemorations of the Weavers Uprising in east Lancashire in April 1826.
Wigan Post/Observer, 2022
A justice expert has branded plans to turn Wigan’s jail into a mega-prison “totally unsuitable” s... more A justice expert has branded plans to turn Wigan’s jail into a mega-prison “totally unsuitable” saying the Government would be better off closing it.
By Holly Pritchard
Friday, 22nd April 2022
Lancashire Telegraph, 2022
Article in the Lancashire Telegraph including interview with Dr David Scott
Open Learn, 2019
Open University Documentary featuring interviews with children rights campaigners calling for the... more Open University Documentary featuring interviews with children rights campaigners calling for the end of child imprisonment.
Open Learn, 2019
A short lecture from The Open University on the definition of 'crime'.
Open Learn
Short Video and text for Open Learn, Free courses from The Open University
BBC 1
For Full Version of discussion see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqJ79IrSBZE Originally broadc... more For Full Version of discussion see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqJ79IrSBZE
Originally broadcast on BBC1 22nd January 2017
BBC 1, 2018
Broadcast on BBC1 29th April 2018
2016-17 saw the worst prison riots in decades. Across the country the prisons estate exploded as ... more 2016-17 saw the worst prison riots in decades. Across the country the prisons estate exploded as campaigners and prisoners had predicted. A light was shone on the so-called prison crisis. In Injustice it's not that prisons are in crisis, prisons are the crisis. A film maker decided to chart the current state of prison and the criminal justice system. Injustice tells the story of the system through the stories of prisoners, their families, and prison workers, interwoven with research and analysis by campaigners and academics. We hear of life before prison, alienation, crime and confinement, and the consequences they hold for all of us.
Overview of Round Table interview on Sky 512, broadcast 30th April 2018
A leading prison academic has claimed research into who is being held behind bars shows no need f... more A leading prison academic has claimed research into who is being held behind bars shows no need for massively expanding the borough jail. Dr David Scott from The Open University says his Freedom of Information [FOI] Requests show the existing HMP Hindley site is easily capable of housing everyone from the local area that needs to be in custody.
Article in Wigan Observer, 27th June 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmK\_-lB\_tvQ
Wigan Post 7th April 2017 A leading prisons academic has set up a petition calling on the Govern... more Wigan Post
7th April 2017
A leading prisons academic has set up a petition calling on the Government to publish the economic case for the transformation of Hindley's jail. Dr David Scott from the Open University is one of two lecturers and researchers who started the campaign on change.org asking justice secretary Liz Truss to openly state the benefits the Government believes the work on the prison will bring. The
A leading prisons expert has suggested the borough's jail set for a massive refurbishment and lik... more A leading prisons expert has suggested the borough's jail set for a massive refurbishment and likely expansion could be shut completely. Open University academic Dr David Scott told a public meeting on the planned transformation of Hindley Prison that if Greater Manchester's rate of putting people behind bars was brought down to the national average there would be no need for the jail at all.
Read more at: http://www.wigantoday.net/news/environment/prison-in-revamp-plan-could-be-shut-expert-says-1-8474370
Punishment & society, Feb 11, 2024
Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform
This chapter explores how prisons in England and Wales are haunted by the presence of death. It d... more This chapter explores how prisons in England and Wales are haunted by the presence of death. It details how prisoners experience civil death (death in law), social death (death as a worthy human being) and corporeal death (literal death of the body). The chapter discusses two different but associated abolitionist strategies to contest the prison as a place of death: (i) naming the people who have died and recognising their continued humanity, as a way to promote greater penal accountability; and, (ii) direct action as a way of ‘making something happen’. Overall, the chapter points to the need for a dedicated democratic public space (an agora) committed to rational, informed debate that recognises the inherent deadly outcomes of imprisonment.
The chapter is about the politics and ethics of criminological research and it starts by defining... more The chapter is about the politics and ethics of criminological research and it starts by defining the philosophical conceptions of ‘ontology’ and ‘epistemology’, which are referred to throughout the following discussion. In so doing, examples of prison research are drawn upon to illustrate important political and ethical considerations. The chapter provides a critical review of the politics of criminological research from an abolitionist perspective, locating social research within the context of state power, social divisions and conflicting interests
The language of human rights is a commonplace one for those actively engaged in emancipatory stru... more The language of human rights is a commonplace one for those actively engaged in emancipatory struggles against inequality, domination and state power, and it has a long association with penal abolitionism. Penal abolitionists question the moral and political legitimacy of the current application of the penal rationale (punishment) and call for alternative ways of handling interpersonal conflicts within a fairer and more egalitarian society. The language of rights has been championed by a number of penal abolitionists, most notably Stanley Cohen and Barbara Hudson. For Stanley Cohen (1994) human rights are a defensive strategy creating legal safeguards and protections against violations of dignity whilst at the same time facilitating a progressive utopian vision of social transformation. For Barbar Hudson (2003) human rights are absolutely necessary to protect the common humanity of those people whose behaviour we find repugnant or are unable to empathize with. Not all penal abolitio...
Strangeways 08/2001; 4:8-11.
For a tribute article to Barbara written by David Scott, please consult our November 2013 newslet... more For a tribute article to Barbara written by David Scott, please consult our November 2013 newsletter. http://www.europeangroup.org/?q=node/36
European Group Newsletter 07/2014
This chapter explores the social background of prisoners and the case for the selective abolition... more This chapter explores the social background of prisoners and the case for the selective abolition of prisoners using the 'attrition model'.
The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography provides an expansive and authoritative overview of t... more The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography provides an expansive and authoritative overview of the challenges presented by qualitative, and particularly ethnographic, inquiry. Global in perspective, the chapters reflect upon the means by which ethnographers aim to gain understanding, make sense of what they learn and the way they represent their finished work. The handbook offers urgent insights relevant to current trends in the growth of imprisonment world-wide. In an era of mass incarceration, human-centric ethnography provides an important counter to quantitative analysis and the 'official' audit culture on which prisons are frequently judged. The handbook is divided into four parts. Part I (About Prison Ethnography) assesses methodological, theoretical and pragmatic issues related to the use of ethnographic and qualitative inquiry in understanding complex social and political problems. Part II (Through Prison Ethnography) considers the significance of ethnographic insig...
Childrens Literature in Education, 2004
Since Melvin Burgess published his first children’s book, The Cry of the Wolf (1989) he has had t... more Since Melvin Burgess published his first children’s book, The Cry of the Wolf (1989) he has had the reputation of being a powerful and challenging writer, discussing issues that many other writers have shunned. But it was with Junk (Smack in the US) in 1996 that he became a notorious media figure. This Carnegie winning novel showed teenagers not only
This study explores the influence of the Human Rights Act (1998) on prison officer understandings... more This study explores the influence of the Human Rights Act (1998) on prison officer understandings of prisoner human rights. Utilising the insights of discourse analysis, the implementation of the Human Rights Act (1998) is understood within the complex interrelationships of penology, law, penal policy, and occupational culture. In so doing, this book utilises a neo-abolitionist normative framework to assess the legitimacy of the current restrictive interpretations and marginalisation of human rights in penological discourses and prison service policies. Central is an empirical study of prison officer occupational culture which critically explores how prisoners become constructed as ghost like figures whose needs are denied and othered as beyond the realm of humanity. Against this dehumanising backdrop the author calls for the development of a positive rights agenda and the promotion of alternative means of dealing with wrongdoers that recognises their shared humanity. This study wil...
ABSTRACT This article draws upon research undertaken between March 14th - May 12th 2014 with crit... more ABSTRACT This article draws upon research undertaken between March 14th - May 12th 2014 with critical criminologists currently working in Universities in England, Wales and the North of Ireland. Overall 24 academics from 20 different universities participated in the study. The ‘Critical Criminology Questionnaire’,3 from which both the quantitative and qualitative data is derived, is now available on the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control [European Group] website.
Thank you very much for inviting me to speak today. I am going to split this talk into two parts... more Thank you very much for inviting me to speak today. I am going to split this talk into two parts.
First, I will give a very brief overview of the 1826 weavers uprising in East Lancashire.
Second, I will outline the goals and objectives of the recently formed bicentennial committee and how it plans to work towards the 200th anniversary of the uprising in 2026.
Open Lean, Open University, 2020
Online Talk for Momentum, 7th April 2020 The current government policy on COVID-19 in prisons ar... more Online Talk for Momentum, 7th April 2020
The current government policy on COVID-19 in prisons are falling woefully short of what is required to ensure the safety of prisoners. The government approaches of lockdown, shielding and cohorting are grounded in the flawed logics of coercion, risk and vulnerabilities. Government policy should, however, be guided by the principle of protecting human life and preventing violations of human dignity. This talk highlights the dangers of the coronavirus in prisons; the inherent harms of imprisonment and ultimately calls for plausible non-coercive alternative available to the government, including welfare social policies and a radical reduction in the prison population.