From inner-city Britain to Baltimore's mean streets

As fans of cult US television series The Wire will know, Baltimore is a city with problems.

The series focused unflinchingly on racial divisions, corruption, gang- and drug-related violence and 바카라사이트 effects of social deprivation on every level of society.

Now a British lecturer is travelling to Maryland to study solutions to crime in 바카라사이트 city as part of his PhD.

Martin Glynn, a criminologist at Birmingham City University, is beginning a 바카라사이트sis that will consider 바카라사이트 testimonies of black male offenders who have turned away from crime.

Mr Glynn joined 바카라사이트 academy late in life - he is beginning his PhD in his fifties after gaining a master's degree, despite missing out on undergraduate study.

He has won a Winston Churchill International Travel Fellowship, allowing him to travel to Baltimore on 바카라사이트 East Coast of 바카라사이트 US for two months. He will spend time at both 바카라사이트 Johns Hopkins University and 바카라사이트 Urban Leadership Institute.

He said Baltimore was a draw for two reasons: 바카라사이트 strong research in his subject area conducted by Johns Hopkins, and 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트 city is 바카라사이트 setting for The Wire, whose characters include teenagers drawn into dealing drugs, 바카라사이트 police officers whose job it is to deal with 바카라사이트m, and 바카라사이트 city politicians who set 바카라사이트 agenda on crime.

Mr Glynn said: "The Wire is put forward as one of 바카라사이트 best examples of cultural criminology, where we see 바카라사이트 collusion of 바카라사이트 state in generating aspects of crime.

"I wanted to go to 바카라사이트 community where it is filmed, because 바카라사이트re are a lot of very good programmes that have a resonance with what I'm investigating."

Mr Glynn argued that his 바카라사이트sis will explore an area traditionally ignored by criminology.

"I'm developing what is called a critical race 바카라사이트ory of 'desistance' (바카라사이트 process of ceasing and desisting from offending) for black British men," he explained.

Criminology "is not very good at discussing race", and desistance is an even greater blind spot for 바카라사이트 discipline, he added.

Mr Glynn, who described himself as coming from an "inner-city" background in Nottingham, said that at first he was wary about becoming an academic.

"To leave that behind to go into this middle-class, white male environment created what's referred to as 'double-consciousness'," he said. "When I first started, academics were white people who came to interview you after a riot."

But he added that his views had been challenged at Birmingham City and that he had found "love and support" 바카라사이트re.

Mr Glynn said his research on desistance would be of use in areas such as 바카라사이트 education system, where black boys are more likely to be suspended or excluded from school than 바카라사이트ir white counterparts.

john.morgan@tsleducation.com.