Sophie D'Souza

With children as young as ten held in youth prisons, there is an urgent need to address the developmental impact of childhood state punishment. In the UK, whilst the overall incarceration rate of young people is falling, there remains a disproportionate representation of children of colour in custody. Working with young people as critical research collaborators, I explore how incarcerated children survive and thrive despite the brutality of community separation during sensitive periods of development. Specific research questions are constructed based on the interests and concerns of those most intimately impacted by the youth punishment system, grounded in a commitment to centring perspectives systematically silenced through the violence of incarceration. Taking a critical participatory approach, my research aims to build collectivity, and to imagine psychologically-informed, developmentally-attuned alternatives that do not rely on state punishment. I aim to expand understandings of childhood trauma beyond individual-level psychological impacts, and towards a contextualisation within the sociopolitical contours that shape incarcerated youth experiences.