Can changing the story we tell about crime actually change the policies that follow? In this episode, Dr Omar Phoenix Khan speaks with Dr Janeille Zorina Matthews, multidisciplinary criminal justice scholar, Deputy Dean, and Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, about her work at the intersections of criminology, law, storytelling, and social justice in the Anglophone Caribbean.

Dr. Matthews has written extensively on sexual violence in Antigua and Barbuda, examining how a cluster of high-profile cases in the early 2000s shaped public consciousness, behavioural patterns, and media representations of crime for years that followed. She reflects on what that moment revealed about how crime narratives form — and how reframing the discourse around sexual violence can open space for more constructive, survivor-centred conversations.

The conversation turns to Dr. Matthews' work on narrative change and crime policy, drawing on her article 'Creating the Demand for Better Crime Policy', in which she argues that Qualitative Frame Analysis (QFA) can be used as a methodological tool to interrogate "tough on crime" rhetoric — exposing how politicians, media, and other actors manufacture public consent for punitive approaches that often misrepresent the true nature of crime. Shifting those frames, she argues, is essential to creating the conditions for more effective and humane policies.

The episode also explores the persistence of colonial legacies in penal practices across the Anglophone Caribbean, the growing importance of Southern and decolonial criminologies in reimagining the discipline, and how Dr. Matthews' contribution to the UNDP's first Caribbean Human Development Report and her leadership of the UWI Rights Advocacy Project connect research to real struggles for human rights and decarceration.

This episode is for anyone interested in criminology, crime policy reform, the politics of narrative, and how the Caribbean is contributing vital new perspectives to global debates about crime and punishment.

Read Dr. Matthews' work:

• Matthews, J. Z. (2020). 'Creating the demand for better crime policy: Qualitative Frame Analysis as a vehicle for social transformation.' The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 59(3), 325–342. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12386
• Matthews, J. Z. & Robinson, T. (2019). 'Modern Vagrancy in the Anglophone Caribbean.' Caribbean Journal of Criminology, 1(4), 123–154.
• Matthews, J. Z. (2017). 'Social Constructions of Crime in Antigua and Barbuda.' In Joosen & Bailey (eds), Caribbean Crime & Criminal Justice: Impacts of Post-Colonialism and Gender on Crime. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Caribbean-Crime-and-Criminal-Justice-Impacts-of-Post-Colonialism-and-Gender-on-Crime/Joosen-Bailey/p/book/9780367888534
• UWI Rights Advocacy Project: https://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/law/staff-profile/dr-janeille-zorina-matthews/

Dr. Janeille Zorina Matthews | University of the West Indies, Cave Hill

Dr. Omar Phoenix Khan | @OmarPKhan | @Justice_Focus | https://www.justicefocus.org/

Keywords: Caribbean criminology, crime policy, narrative change, Qualitative Frame Analysis, colonial legacies, rape, sexual violence, decarceration, Southern criminology, Anglophone Caribbean, penal reform, storytelling for social justice, tough on crime, UWI Rights Advocacy Project, UNDP