20: Catherine Heard - Comparative Criminology & the World Prison Research Programme

Catherine Heard is a senior research fellow at ICPR - the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, based at Birkbeck, University of London. In this episode, she talks with Omar about ICPR’s World Prison Research Programme, which builds on the World Prison Brief, ICPR's online database providing details of the prison systems of over 220 independent countries and dependent territories.

Catherine discusses the real-world application of comparative criminology including two notable instances where ICPR data was directly used at the highest level - once where outgoing President Barak Obama referenced ICPR work and also when Catherine had to  fact-check the Brazilian Minister of Justice and Public Security, Sérgio Fernando Moro.

Key Publications Discussed: 

- Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in ten countries

- Towards a health-informed approach to penal reform? Evidence from ten countries

Catherine Heard | @ICPRtweet | @ICPSLONDON | https://www.icpr.org.uk/

Omar Phoenix Khan | @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/