RT Article T1 This is how it feels: activating lived experience in the penal voluntary sector JF The British journal of criminology VO 62 IS 4 SP 822 OP 839 A1 Buck, Gillian A1 Tomczak, Philippa A1 Quinn, Kaitlyn A2 Tomczak, Philippa A2 Quinn, Kaitlyn LA English YR 2022 UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1807376168 AB Increasing calls for ‘nothing about us without us’ envision marginalized people as valuable and necessary contributors to policies and practices affecting them. In this paper, we examine what this type of inclusion feels like for criminalized people who share their lived experiences in penal voluntary sector organizations. Focus groups conducted in England and Scotland illustrated how this work was experienced as both safe, inclusionary and rewarding and exclusionary, shame-provoking and precarious. We highlight how these tensions of ‘user involvement’ impact criminalized individuals and compound wider inequalities within this sector. The individual, emotional and structural implications of activating lived experience, therefore, require careful consideration. We consider how the penal voluntary sector might more meaningfully and supportively engage criminalized individuals in service design and delivery. These considerations are significant for broader criminal justice and social service provision seeking to meaningfully involve those with lived experience. K1 lived experience K1 User-involvement K1 Voluntary sector K1 Participation K1 Emotion DO 10.1093/bjc/azab102