Coventry Skeptics in the Pub

Coventry Skeptics in the Pub are a group of people who enjoy meeting once a month to listen to a talk based around Science, pseudoscience and critical thinking.

Each month we host a speaker on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, at The Twisted Barrel Ale Brewery and Tap House, on a variety of topics based around science and critical thinking.

There is no membership or admission charges but as a volunteer led organisation we do ask for donations during the break.

If you want to get in contact with us, we can be found on
Facebook: http://www.https://www.facebook.com/covskeptics
Twitter: @CovSkeptics
or email us at CoventrySitP@Gmail.com

Events:

Wednesday 21st September 2022 at 7PM: Risky Business – Why the Parole Board Releases Bad People.

The Parole Board is an organisation that most people would hope to never be involved with but it makes thousands of decisions every year that potentially effect the safety of everyone. 


In recent years The Board has found itself the subject of high profile stories about what appear to be dangerous decisions to release prisoners convicted of the most serious of crimes. Is this a new issue? How are these decisions made and how on earth can murderers, robbers or rapists ever be safely released to the community? What are the tools to achieve this and how much can Parole assessments be relied upon to predict risk?

In this talk prison lawyer Emma McClure lays out how the Parole Board operates in practice; the way risk assessments are conducted and the problems that exist in the current system in trying to make evidence-based decisions around the management of society’s most dangerous people within a problem-ridden criminal justice system.

Emma is a solicitor who specialises in representing prisoners before the Parole Board; particularly those with complex mental health issues. She is also a public speaker interested in the intersection between the pursuit of justice and critical thinking.