39th Annual Conference: Report

Below is a report on the last European Group conference in Chambery in France attended by over 120 delegates from 20 countries

The Chambery Conference

First of all many thanks to the organising team for the 39^th Annual Conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control at the University de Savoie, located in the historic city of Chambery, 3^rd – 7^th September 2011.  Emma Bell was an excellent host for the five day conference.  Emma was helpfully assisted by her students David, Maëlle, Amélie and Célie throughout the conference.  John Dennison provided great assistance and technical support.   Additional recognition should be give to Jean Marie Ruiz for his translation of the opening talks by Christian and Serge and Marie-Ange Mayoussier provided important administrative support in the lead up to the conference.                         

The Chambery conference was attended by more than 120 delegates from over 20 different countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Sates and the United Kingdom.  It was encouraging that there were so many new faces at the conference this year and that we were also able to welcome back some people who have not been to a European Group conference for a number of years.   We very much hope many will wish to attend future conferences.  There were more than 100 papers on the programme, including three plenary panels (two on European immigration policy and practice and one on penal policy) and two inspirational keynote talks.  The excursion to the Chartreuse Mountains, on Sunday 4^th September, included a meal at a beautiful mountain restaurant and a fascinating trip to an historic distillery, which included a short, but highly entertaining (and for some hilarious), 3D film.  There was also a guided historical tour of the city.

On the afternoon of the 5th September 2011, during the break in the immigration plenary panel, which consisted of a number of Italian delegates returning home that evening to participate in the Italian National Strike on the 6^th September, the following European Group Resolution was passed unanimously:

The delegates attending the 39th European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control express their support to all comrades in paid work and unemployed taking action in the National Strike in Italy. We recognise the significance of this mass action not only within Italy but also internationally.

New Constitution

The new European Group Constitution, after undergoing some minor amendments during the Annual General meeting on the 6^th September, was passed unanimously.  

At the Annual General Meeting [AGM] this year it was agreed that the European Group would open a new community bank account so that a number of people from the Group (namely the co-ordinator, treasurer and secretary) could have access to existing funds.   Current funds are limited and it was agreed that in future money could only be spent from the new European Group bank account if additional funds were raised.  Suggestions for fundraising ideas and donations would therefore be welcome over the coming months.

Athanasios Chouliaras is to be the new Greek National Representative.  Meropi Tzanetakis from Austria and Julien Niklaus from Switzerland have also agreed to be new National Representatives for their respective countries whilst members of a collective at Barcelona University are consulting about a possible Spanish representative.    Two new members were also added to the Conference Steering Committee – Steve Tombs and John Moore.  The locations of the 41^st and 42^nd Annual Conferences of the European Group were agreed - the 2013 Conference will be hosted in Oslo, Norway and the 2014 conference in Liverpool, England.  Further details regarding the 40^th Annual Conference in Cyprus in September 2012 will be announced shortly.

At the AGM it was also agreed that we needed further clarification of the role of the national representatives and the conference steering committee.  As a result of this discussion there will be further debate about how we can best support new National Representatives in the coming weeks and months.  The discussion will be led by the current National Representatives and members of the conference steering committee.