Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr. Sharon Menezes

Assistant Professor
Mumbai Campus, Centre for Criminology and Justice, School of Social Work - Mumbai Campus

Qualification

M.A. (TISS)
Ph.D. (TISS)

Contact

sharon.menezes[at]tiss[dot]ac[dot]in

Phone: 022-25525455

Sharon Menezes is faculty with the Centre for Criminology and Justice (CCJ), School of Social Work (SSW), TISS, Mumbai, since 2010. Prior to this, she was with Prayas: Social Work in Criminal Justice, a field action project of the CCJ, SSW, TISS, since 1995. Engagements with Prayas continue as Joint Project Director.

She has a Master of Arts in Social Work (with Specialisation in Criminology and Correctional Administration) and Ph.D. in Social Work from TISS, Mumbai.

Sharon’s engagements in teaching, training, field practice and research have been focused on social work methods, women and children in custody and institutions, human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, procedural justice, and rehabilitation and social re-integration of individuals, groups and communities involved in or vulnerable to crime, commercial sexual exploitation, stigma and destitution.

Procedural justice
Human trafficking
Commercial sexual exploitation
Women prisoners
Custody and institutions
Rehabilitation and social reintegration of persons discharged from penal and protective institutions

Research projects:

1.Creating Child Safe Communities: Bridging Police-Social Work Partnerships for Child Safety in Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar, Maharashtra (2023)

2. National Survey on Human Trafficking in India (2022)

3. Prisoners' Contact with Families: Procedures, Practices and Experiences (2020)

4. Rapid Needs Assessment Survey of Criminal Justice Affected Populations and Their Families during Covid 19 Pandemic (2020)

5. Socio-legal Circumstances of Accused during Initial Court Production (2018)

6. The Devadasi System: Social Context, Responses and Resistance (2018)

7. Socio- economic Situations and Rehabilitation Needs of Women in Dance Bars (2005)

2025. A Model for Negotiating Access to Justice for the Disabled. In Tan, N.T. (eds) Research and Practice Based Models for Advancing Social Work. Sprigerbriefs in Advancing Social Work and Social Work Education . Springer, Cham.

2024. The Trafficker Speaks: Voicing the Other Side of the Coin, Justice, Opportunities, and Rehabilitation, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2024.2433274 (with Vijay Raghavan)

2024. Anti-Slavery, Anti-Trafficking, Resistance, and Abolition Outcomes. In Matilde Ventrella and Benjamin Lawrence (eds.) A Cultural History of Slavery and Human Trafficking In The Age Of Globalization. Bloomsbury (with Rimple Mehta, Saie Shetye and Vijay Raghavan)

2024. Developing Curriculum for Criminal Justice Social Work from the Field. In Carolyn Noble and Annaline Keet (eds.) Creating new alleyways for decolonial social work. Springer (with Vijay Raghavan and Krupa Shah)

2024. In Between Worlds: A sex worker and a social worker discuss what it means to ‘rehabilitate’ a sex worker and at what cost, https://thethirdeyeportal.in/body/in-between-worlds/

2022. Familial Violence and Human Trafficking: Stories from India, Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, 20, 257-271

2021. The (Sur)real Her - All is Well, https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/7/20078/The-Surreal-Her----All-is-well

2020. Stigma and Marginalisation Meet Disaster: Women's Stories of Distress and Agency, Journal of Exclusion Studies, 10(2), 77-90. (With Krupa Shah, Vijay Raghavan and Devayani Tumma)

2020. Claim-Making Processes in Criminal Justice Social Work in India, British Journal of Social Work, 00, 1-18. (with Vijay Raghavan)

2019. Criminal Justice Social Work in India: Conceptualising and Teaching from Practice. In Ushvinder Kaur Popli and Ashvini Kumar Singh (eds.) Indigenising Social Work Practice in India. Bloomsbury (with Vijay Raghavan)

2019. Book Review: Women, Mobility and Incarceration: Love and Recasting of Self across the Bangladesh-India Border, by Rimple Mehta, London, NY: Routledge, 2018,Indian Journal of Social Work, 80(3), 393-396

2019. Re-thinking Breakaways from Prostitution: Implications for Police Intervention, Indian Police Journal, 66(1), 24-31

2019. A Thesis for Exiting Prostitution: Implications for Criminal Justice Social Work, International Journal of Criminal Justice Studies (Special Issue on Criminal Justice Social Work in India), 14 (1), 67-81

2019. SC lifts ban on women in dance bars: Questions about consent, protection from exploitation remain, Firstpost (online, Feb 18, 2019)

2019. “Someone Listen to Me”: Exiting Prostitution, Indian Journal of Social Work, 80 (1), 47-66

2019. Experiencing Justice Delivery: Women Exploited for Commercial Sex Speak, Journal of Victimology and Victim Justice, 2(1) 1-15

2017. Prayas: Demonstrating Criminal Justice Social Work, Indian Journal of Social Work, 78 (2), 225- 253. (with Vijay Raghavan)

2016. ‘Covering Distances … A Tough Struggle’: Conceptualising Exiting Prostitution, Sociological Bulletin, 65 (3), 339-356

Prayas: Social Work in Criminal Justice

Social Work Practice with Individuals (formerly titled Social Case Work)

Community Organisation

Issues and Challenges in Criminal Justice Social Work

Rural Crime and Justice

Human Growth and Behaviour

Work with Individuals, Groups and Families (Kevat Patient Navigation Programme, Tata Memorial Centre)