Redeeming the “unredeemable”: Rehabilitating extremist offenders and what this teaches us about Peace-building

The Chair in Christian Thought presents The Bentall Lectures in Christian Theology with Dr. Ryan J. Williams SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellow Department of Classics and Religion, University of Calgary The Canadian case of Omar Khadr – Guantanamo Bay detainee, now living in Edmonton – embodies new questions around the rehabilitation and release of offenders convicted of terrorism related offences. Khadr’s case of hope and change contrasts with broader opinion against the possibility of rehabilitating those convicted under counter-terrorism legislation. This talk will explore the reasons behind this resistance and the significance of the possibility of rehabili-tating this type of offender in a global, post-secular and post-9/11 world. The lecture is based on Williams’ recent fieldwork in UK maximum security prisons, and will draw on his interviews with prisoners convicted of terrorist offences.
Location:
Gallery Hall – Taylor Family Digital Library
Speaker:
Dr. Ryan J. Williams completed his Ph.D. in 2012 in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England and is a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge. His dissertation was on “promoting resilience to violent extremist Islamism.” In 2015 he won a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Calgary. He has published articles in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and in the Journal of Contemporary Religion. In February 2015 his article, “Why some prisons produce terrorists,” appeared in The Globe and Mail.
More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/redeeming-unredeemable-rehabilitating-extremist-offenders-and-what-teaches-us-about-peace