St Mary’s Academics Deliver Talk on Black History Month Talk for the Independent Office for Police Conduct

Criminology and Sociology academics from St Mary’s University, Twickenham, delivered a talk to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) as part of Black History Month, October 2018.

Programme Director for Criminology and Sociology, Nenna Samota, and Deputy Director of the Centre for the Study of Modern Slavery (CSMS) Dr Carole Murphy, delivered the talk to the IOPC in Canary Wharf on 9^th October.   

The talk entitled Modern Slavery, Race and Migration, was centred around topics such as modern slavery, links to the historic slave trade and how this is being tackled by the UK Criminal Justice System, referring to race issues, key thinkers and their contributions, in order to see how these are relevant today.

Launched in 2015, the Centre for the Study of Modern Slavery was established to provide a comprehensive response to modern slavery and human trafficking. The Centre draws on the expertise of internal and external partners. The Centre includes academic staff from across the University, and honorary research fellows with expertise in a range of relevant areas, including survivor support systems.

Speaking of the talk, Neena said, “We were delighted to have the opportunity to address IOPC staff on a very relevant theme to mark Black History Month. It was very useful to promote the work of the Centre with a key statutory partner which has responsibility to oversee the police complaints system in England and Wales. Our Criminology and Sociology programme also has a strong focus on social justice and police accountability.”

“Building on the notion of equal protection of the law, it was a timely opportunity to highlight the discrimination faced by the Windrush generation. Similar forms of insecurity, disadvantage and discrimination are experienced by victims of modern day slavery, migrants and refugees. The talk was followed by a very engaging question and answer session. I hope that some of our graduates consider future careers with the IOPC.”