Using Rap with Young Offenders and Youth At-Risk of Organised Crime: Experiences from Colombia and Albania
A Talk by Mark Berry , Mathew H. Charles and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers
About this Talk
Rap music has long been presented as a driver of violent and drug related offending in youth with artists who perform Drill and Grime now demonised as a serious threat to the social and moral order. Proponents of this view often disregard the benefits that rap music can have in supporting young people and developing their skills, particularly those who are marginalised and at-risk or imprisoned and coming to terms with their offending. This panel explores how ‘lyrics and beat making’ workshops have been implemented in Albania and Colombia to provide a music-based platform for young people to express their lived experiences, gain self-esteem, learn social, practical and critical thinking skills, whilst envisaging and working towards constructive futures
About The Speakers
Bournemouth University
Lecturer in Criminology at Bournemouth University specialising in ethnographic and participatory action research in organised crime and youth crime.
Universidad Externado de Colombia
An academic and journalist with over ten years of experience researching and reporting organised crime in Latin America. Most recently, Mathew was the director of the Colombian Observatory of Organised Crime.