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Karen Daniels

Karen Daniels

PhD Candidate
Arts, Design & Architecture
School of Social Sciences

:K.Daniels@student.unsw.edu.au

ܱǰ:Maree Higgins, Eileen Baldry, Stephanie Gilbert

Karen is an Aboriginal woman with strong relationships with Kamilaroi and Darug communities and the wider context of justice. Karen has managed Medical Centres which involved supporting people with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) to access primary health care. Karen obtained a Diploma in Community Services which included subjects on Counselling and completed a Bachelor of Social Science with Distinction (2012-2014) and Honours Degree (2014-2015) in Criminology at the University of Newcastle. The title of her honours thesis was Mad and/or Bad? Structural violence and the experiences of forensic mental health patients in NSW. Karen is enrolled part-time Indigenous Student in the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture in the School of Social Science. The title of her thesis is “Conceptualisation, Management and Experiences of Forensic Patients in New South Wales 2000 – 2025”. She has researched reports and media stories on forensic patients, and interviewed patients about their lived experiences prior to and while in hospital.
  • Criminology- Forensic Patients
  • Mental Health
  • Prisoners

Submissions

  • McGee, P., Higgins, M., Baldry, E., Daniels, K and Siciliano, H (2024) National Forum on Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment of People with Disability in Detention. Technical Report. 9th May 2024. Pp: 1 - 70. University of New South Wales. Kensington: Australia. Available at: DOI: 
  • Daniels, K., Higgins, M., Baldry, E. & McGee, P. (2022) People with Cognitive Impairments and Mental Health Disorders Detained Under Forensic Orders, Often Indefinitely, Subject to Restrictive Practices Including Chemical Restraint. United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [CAT] Committee. 15th and 16th November 2022. Geneva: Switzerland.
  • Daniels K (2021) Conceptualisation, Management and Experiences of Forensic Patients in New South Wales 2000 - 2025: Case Studies. [The author Karen Daniels is a PhD candidate from UNSW. These Case Studies form part of Karen’s copyright in her unpublished PhD, to be completed at the end of 2026]. University of New South Wales. Kensington: Australia. In Daniels, K., Higgins, M., Baldry, E and McGee, P (2022) People with Cognitive Impairments and Mental Health Disorders Detained Under Forensic Orders, Often Indefinitely, Subject to Restrictive Practices Including Chemical Restraint. Pp: 1 - 47. Submission to UN CAT Committee. 15th and 16th November 2022. Geneva: Switzerland. Available at: DOI
  • Daniels, K, L (2015) Mad and/or Bad? Structural violence and the experiences of forensic mental health patients in NSW. Degree of Social Science (Honours). Pp: 1 - 103. University of Newcastle.  Callaghan: Australia. Available at: or DOI: 
  • Daniels, K (2012) So they say: What Corrective Services “say they should do, what they say they do, and what they actually do, are not always the same thing. There are sometimes dissonances between organisational policy and practice. Undergraduate Degree Paper. University of Newcastle: Callaghan: Australia. Pp: 1 - 7. Available at DOI:

Presentations

  • Daniels, K., Higgins, M., Green, S and Baldry, E (2023) “Conceptualisation, Management and Experiences of those with Serious Mental Illness in Forensic Settings in NSW 2000-2025”. Management of people in Forensic Units. Forensic Hospital Staff and Patients. Malabar NSW, 24th January 2023. University of New South Wales. Kensington: Australia. Pp: 1 - 7. Available at: DOI:
  • Daniels, K., Higgins, M and Baldry, E (2023) “Management of people in Forensic Units.” Australia & New Zealand Forensic Mental Health Social Work Conference. Malabar NSW. 23rd March 2023. University of New South Wales. Kensington NSW: Australia. Pp: 1 - 16. Available at: DOI:
  • Daniels, K., Heatley, C., Higgins, M and Baldry, E (2023) Lived Experience of Forensic Patients NSW. National Forum Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment of People with Disability and Mental Health Disorders in Australia’s Places of Detention. 26th July 2023. University of New South Wales. Kensington: Australia. Pp: 1 - 10. Available at: DOI: 
  • Daniels, K., McGee, P and Higgins, M (2023) “Collaboration within and beyond academia to end cruel degrading and inhuman treatment of people with disability and mental health disorders in Australia’s places of detention.” International hybrid conference through the Centre for Disability Studies Postgraduate Conference 2023: Academia, activism, and applicability. 21st October 2023. Leads: United Kingdom. University of Leeds. DOI: