BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Dr Caroline Lanskey and Ben Jarman\, ‘A Poor Prospect Indeed: Th
 e State’s Disavowal of Child Abuse Victims in Youth Custody.’  - Speak
 er to be confirmed
DTSTART:20191031T173000Z
DTEND:20191031T190000Z
UID:TALK134236@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:R Greene
DESCRIPTION:Dr Caroline Lanskey and Ben Jarman\n‘A Poor Prospect Indeed:
  The State’s Disavowal of Child Abuse Victims in Youth Custody.’\n\nCh
 ild abuse in youth custody in England and Wales has received an unpreceden
 ted degree of official attention in recent years. Historic allegations of 
 abuse by staff in custodial institutions which held children are now being
  heard by the courts and by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abus
 e (IICSA)\; some criminal trials have resulted in convictions. More recent
  allegations have also been investigated in institutions which hold childr
 en today. Two persistent questions these investigations prompt are why the
  victimisation of children in custody went unrecognised for so long\, and 
 why its victims have been denied any form of redress. Drawing on original 
 documentary research\, we aim to explain why and how state authorities in 
 England and Wales failed to recognise the victimisation of children held i
 n penal institutions between 1960 and 1990\, and argue that this failure c
 onstitutes a disavowal of the state’s responsibility. We show that the v
 ictims of custodial child abuse were the victims of state crimes by omissi
 on\, because the state failed to recognise or to uphold a duty of care. We
  argue further that this was possible because the occupational cultures an
 d custodial practices of penal institutions failed to recognise the specif
 ic vulnerabilities of children. Adult staff were granted discretionary pow
 er such that they could largely act without effective constraint\, definin
 g their actions retrospectively as unproblematic where these were subject 
 to complaint. Our argument has implications for how custodial institutions
  for children should think about the kinds of abuse which are manifest tod
 ay.
LOCATION:B3 Institute of Criminology Sidgwick Site
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR