Dr Sacha Darke

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Reader

Social Sciences

(United Kingdom) +44 20 7911 5000 ext 69045
32/38 Wells Street
London
GB
W1T 3UW
Mondays, term-time, 2-3pm
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About me

I am Reader in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences.

External appointments: Visiting Lecturer in Law, University of São Paulo; Affiliate, King’s Brazil Institute, King’s College London; Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow 2020-2022.

Previous academic posts: Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Westminster (2007-2021); Lecturer in Criminology, Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth (2005-2007); visiting Lecturer, School of Law, University of Westminster (1997-2005).

Higher education: Ph.D. Criminology, University of Westminster (2006); M.A. Criminal Justice, University of Southampton (1992); LL.B. Law, Second Class Honours (Upper Division), University of Southampton (1990).

Professional affiliation: Higher Education Academy (Fellow, 2007).

Teaching

I am course leader for MA Global Criminology and module leader for Global Criminology, Global Prisons and Convict Criminology. On BA Criminology, I am module leader for Connecting Prisons and Universities through Higher Education, and Prisons and Desistance.

With Dr Andreas Aresti, I coordinate an academic mentoring scheme for prisoners studying law and social science degrees, and Convict Criminology programmes at HMP Pentonville (levels 3 & 6), HMP Grendon (level 7) and HMP Coldingley (level 7) that involve collaborative research, writing and learning between students inside and outside prison. I was lead author of REF2021 Impact Case Study (Designing and Implementing Participatory Prison Education Programmes in the UK and South America).

With University of São Paulo, State University of Maranhão and University of Buenos Aires, I am leading on knowledge exchange between these programmes and similar projects in Brazil and Argentina. I was lead author of REF2021 Impact Case Study (Designing and Implementing Participatory Prison Education Programmes in the UK and South America).

Research

My research interests include Latin American prisons, prison higher education and the internationalisation of Convict Criminology. I was awarded the 2023 John Irwin Distinguished Scholar Award from the Division of Convict Criminology, American Society of Criminology.

My doctoral research focused on the use of anti-social behaviour legislation by local government crime prevention partnerships

I am currently researching community prisons in Brazil.

Key publications:

Books

Darke, S., Garces, C., Duno-Gottberg, L., & Antillano, A. (Eds.) (2021) Carceral Communities in Latin America: Troubling 21st Century Prison Regimes, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Portuguese version (2022): Comunidades Carcerárias na América Latina: Desconcertando Mundos Prisionais no Século XXI (trans: Karam, M.L.), ‎ São Paulo: Tirant Lo Blanch Brasil

Darke, S. (2018) Conviviality and Survival: Co-producing Brazilian Prison Order, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Portuguese version (2019):Convívio e Sobrevivência: Ordem Prisional em Cogovernança (trans: Karam, M.L.), Belo Horizonte: D'Placido

Chapters in books

Darke, S. (2022) Radical alternatives to punitive detention, in Sozzo, M. (Ed.) Prisons, Inmates and Governance in Latin America (pp.329-363),London: Palgrave Macmillan

Darke, S. et al. (2020) Prisoner university partnerships at Westminster, in Shecaira, S.S. et al. (Eds.) Criminologia: Estudos em Homenagem ao Alvino Augusto de Sá (pp.475-498), Belo Horizonte: D'Placido

Journal special editions

Aresti, A., & Darke, S. (Eds.) (2018) Twenty years of Convict Criminology, Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, 27(2)

Darke, S., & Garces, C. (Eds.) (2017) Informal dynamics of survival in Latin American prisons, Prison Service Journal, 229

Articles in refereed journals

Aresti, A., Darke, S, & Ross, J.I. (2023) Against Bifurcation: Why it's in the best interests of Convict Criminology to be international in scope and not a collection of individual country level organizations, Justice, Power and Resistance, https://doi.org/10.1332/HINO6106

Darke, S., & Khan, O.P. (2021) Coloniality, just war and carceral injustice in Brazil, Punishment and Society, 23(5): 723-740

Publications

For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.