11 - 13 May 2011, Edinburgh

Why do societies punish as they do? What drives change in styles and levels of punishment over time? How do penalties become, or cease to be, acceptable? What is at stake, morally and politically, in the responses we give to questions such as these? Do the answers lie mainly in the domain of politics, where ideas and decisions are debated and changed, sometimes rapidly? Or do they relate to deeper and more lasting aspects of our cultures?

This event brings together a number of leading contemporary thinkers on these questions with a view to refining and redefining our agendas for research and intervention.

Download the questionnaire for the SCCJR Annual Lecture on Wednesday 11 May here.