Prof. Murray Lee1, Associate Professor Anastasia Powell2, Dr Robin Cameron2, Dr Carolyn McKay1, Dr Greg Stratton2
1University Of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia, 2RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
As digital technologies become progressively embedded into our everyday lives, so too are human-technological interactions embedded into everyday crimes, as well as in cultural representations and justice responses to crime. This panel explores the ways in which criminology is increasingly, if belatedly, extending its analysis into the digital realm. Using a new book series as a platform, the round table discusses a range of these emergent fields of study and sets a challenge for scholars to involve themselves in digital criminology.
Themes explored include; Thinking Digital, Acting Global – understanding the analytical, conceptual and territorial borders we need to overcome to comprehend crime and technology; Rape Culture in Digital Society – discussing how in the age of seduction communities, incels, image-based abuse and networked misogyny, we are to understand and challenge rape culture in digital society?; Simulated Policing – exploring the impact of digital technology in policing and our understanding of police; The Digital Prisoner – How audio visual links are now prison technologies as they are melded into the infrastructure of prisons, and firmly embedded into penal policy, offender management and legal procedure.
This roundtable will take the form of short introductions to each theme followed by and inclusive discussion between speakers and attendees aimed at stimulating further discussion around what has become a key research theme in contemporary criminology.
Biography:
Robin Cameron is a Lecturer in Justice and Legal Studies at RMIT University. He teaches subjects on global crime, terrorism, human rights and digital criminology. Robin’s current research focuses on masculinity and extremist violence in urban and online spaces, and the effects on community resilience. He has also conducted research into 9/11, the war on terror and security responses to other crises such as disasters and protests, as well as the broader study of crime and justice in digital society. He has published on these topics and explored them in the co-authored book Digital Criminology (2018, Routledge).
Murray Lee is Professor in Criminology at the University of Sydney. Murray’s research focuses on representations and perceptions of crime and how these intersect with processes of criminalisation. This includes the increasing mediatization of crime and crime control and the development of new forms of media and communication that create new crime risks and anxieties, but also new forms of surveillance, control and governance. His current research interests involve fear of crime, police body-worn cameras, policing and the media, ‘sexting’ and young people and crime prevention. Murray’s most recent book is The Routledge International Handbook on Fear of Crime (2018).
Carolyn McKay is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Sydney Law School. Her research examines the impacts of audio visual technologies (video links) on prisoners’ court appearance and access to justice. Carolyn’s research interests include technologies in justice, prisons and prisoners, visual criminology, surveillance, policing and interdisciplinary research methodologies. In 2013, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Spain. Carolyn has previously consulted on anti-dumping trade disputes and indirect taxation in both Sydney and Tokyo and worked in digital media.
Anastasia Powell is Associate Professor in Criminology at RMIT University. Her research examines the intersections of gendered violence, technology, justice and digital culture. She has published widely in these fields including four books (both sole and co-authored): Sex, Power & Consent (2010,), Domestic Violence: Australian Public Policy (2012), Sexual Violence in a Digital Age (2017), and Digital Criminology (2018); and two edited collections. Anastasia’s recent research has investigated technology-facilitated sexual violence, image-based sexual abuse (known colloquially as ‘revenge pornography’), online justice-seeking or ‘digilantism’, and the broader study of crime and justice in digital society (with Drs Cameron and Stratton).
Greg Stratton is a Lecturer in Justice & Legal Studies at RMIT University and is also the manager of The Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative at RMIT University. His research interests focus on wrongful conviction, state crime, media and crime, and identity in the digital age. Greg’s recent research has investigated the traditional and social media’s influence on wrongful conviction, public perceptions of criminality, and the broader study of crime and justice in digital society. He has published articles on these topics in criminology, media, and cultural studies journals and explored them in the book Digital Criminology (2018, Routledge).