Buck, GillianTomczak, PhilippaQuinn, Kaitlyn2021-09-282021-09-282021-10-21Buck, G., Tomczak, P., & Quinn, K. (2022). This is how it feels: Activating lived experience in the penal voluntary sector. The British Journal of Criminology, 62(4), 822–839. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab1020007-095510.1093/bjc/azab102http://hdl.handle.net/10034/625960This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in British Journal of Criminology following peer review. The version of record [Buck, G., Tomczak, P., & Quinn, K. (2022). This is how it feels: Activating lived experience in the penal voluntary sector. British Journal of Criminology, 62(4), 822–839] is available online at: [https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/bjc/azab102/6407608?searchresult=1].Increasing calls for ‘nothing about us without us’ envision marginalised 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 criminalised people who share their lived experiences in penal voluntary sector organisations. 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 criminalised 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 criminalised 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.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Lived experienceUser-InvolvementVoluntary sectorParticipationEmotionArticle1464-3529The British Journal of Criminology62