Crime and the university: The story of Sort’d,a community-(higher) education project

Abstract

This article is about undergraduate students and young offenders working together on an education project in an Institute of Higher Education. The author argues that the ways in which the students and offenders learn together provide lessons for academics and practitioners working to develop progressive probation practices. This link between the academic and practice is pushed in new directions by the theoretical framework within which Neary situates his work. Neary presents a challenging reinterpretation of the notion that all crime is property crime, including crimes of sex and violence. Neary argues that while not all crime is motivated by money, money is the most significant form of social property; and, therefore, an understanding of the social power of money and the society it dominates is the key to any social theory that seeks to develop the most progressive forms of critical practice. In the Sort’d project money is very much the central issue, not only in terms of Neary’s critical social theory, but through the provision of £500 grants that are awarded to young offenders who complete their educational projects.