Sam Worrall is a live-aboard boater and New Traveller with 25 years of personal experience living among New Travellers. She works with non-governmental organisations (GT Wales and Friends, Families and Travellers) which exist to protect a variety of Traveller communities across the UK.

In this presentation, Sam discusses the relationship between Gypsy and Traveller (GT) communities and the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Highlighting preliminary findings from her recent project, funded by Barrow Cadbury Trust, which was deployed to explore the thoughts and experiences of GT people in the CJS. She also presents recommendations with regards to how GT people can be supported better when in contact with the CJS. This is important for lawyers working with these groups to understand the wider context and to understand the relationship these groups can have with the CJS. This has significant implications for gaining trust and understanding, which is of paramount importance for lawyers working with clients from these backgrounds

Key Words/Topics

Gypsies and Travellers

Prisons

Discrimination

Inequality

Friends, Families and Travellers

Advocacy groups

Gaining trust

Client relationships

Experiences of the criminal justice system

Policing and arrest

Sentencing

Trauma

Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022

Over-policing

Stop and Search

Guilty by assumption

Racism

Lack of awareness

Reoffending

Nomadism

No fixed abode

Breach of conditions

Experiences of eviction

Mental health support

Cultural Competency