1. Home
  2. Explore
  3. Durham Cathedral Institute

Prisons Week Seminar - Divorcing justice from vengeance in sentencing: are longer prison sentences the right way forward?

Saturday 14 October, 2023

Prisons Week, a Christian initiative centered around Prisons Sunday (the second Sunday in October), has been marked for more than forty years and raises awareness of all those affected by prisons, from prisoners themselves and their families, to prison staff and wider communities.

There are three prisons in Durham City; together, they hold approximately two thousand prisoners, with a similar number of staff working in them and in charities connected with them. The Prisons Week Seminar was born from a desire to inform people about them and the issues facing our wider criminal justice system. It has been attracting excellent speakers and encouraging lively debate for the last fifteen years.

This event explored these themes and asked... are longer prison sentences the right way forward?

Read more about the speakers

Wendy Joseph KC

Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC was a judge at the Old Bailey until March 2022, trying mainly allegations of murder and other homicide. She was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1975, became a QC in 1998 and sat as a full-time judge from 2007. When she moved to the Old Bailey in 2012, she was the only woman amongst sixteen judges, and only the third woman to hold a permanent position there. She was also a Diversity and Community Relations Judge, working to promote understanding between the judiciary and different sectors of our community. 

She mentors young people, from a variety of backgrounds, who hope for a career in law and has a special interest in helping women. “Unlawful Killings,” her first book, is a Sunday Times Best Seller and has recently won the 2023 Golden Dagger for non-fiction.

Peter Collier KC

Canon Peter Collier KC has long experience in criminal and safeguarding law and is also an ecclesiastical lawyer. Since 2006, he has been Canon Chancellor of the Archdiocese of York; this post carries legal responsibility for the diocese. He was called to the bar in 1970, spent his career at the bar practising principally in crime on the North Eastern Circuit from Chambers in Leeds and was appointed a Senior Circuit Judge and Resident Judge at Leeds Crown court from 2007-2018. He has had a major concern for the efficiency of the court system, particularly the backlog that has built up in recent years, and has given evidence to Parliament on this.

Anthony Bash

Professor Anthony Bash has been thinking, writing, and lecturing about forgiveness, remorse, regret, and reconciliation for over thirty years. He is a solicitor (now non-practicing) and an honorary professor in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University. He is also an ordained member of the Church of England, and currently a worshipping member of Durham Cathedral. He has been Vice-Principal of one of Durham's colleges and is now Senior Case Manager in the Student Conduct Office where, he says, he is “back in touch with his inner lawyer!”

Find out more about the Durham Cathedral Institute

Durham Cathedral Institute

The Durham Cathedral Institute facilitates public discussions of current affairs and issues affecting the North East of England.

Rough Justice? Do We Have the Criminal Justice System We Deserve?

This event, held during national Prisons Week (13 to 19 October 2024), reflected the latest book by Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC: Rough Justice: Do We Have the Law We Deserve?

Examining Schools: What’s the Future for Secondary Education?

In October 2023, the Durham Cathedral Institute discussed the secondary education sector and the significant shocks it has experienced in recent years, with the pandemic severely disrupting pupil learning.