Gemma’s research interests lie in desistance, digital technology in desistance-orientated work, youth justice, evaluation methodology, & co-production. Gemma’s underpinning research ethos is collaborative, emphasising the importance of interdisciplinary and impactful work. She works closely with several public, private, and third-sector organisations to advance knowledge transfer between academia and practice
Tania Goddard is a PhD student whose research explores whether people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can be fit to plead, stand trial and effectively participate in criminal proceedings.
Dr Anthony Drummond is a senior lecturer whose work explores gypsies and travellers’ experiences of crime and justice since the 1960s. Anthony acts as a critical friend to the Leeds CPS Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel and is currently researching the experience of gay men during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The Criminal Justice and Human Rights Centre is a group of researchers, practitioners and community members studying the ‘justice’ in the criminal justice system. The Centre is interested in addressing the multiple challenges facing criminal justice, both nationally and internationally. The Centre takes a strategic focus on penal policy reform, international justice and human rights, and women’s justice.
Dr Emma Milne’s research is interdisciplinary, focusing on criminal law and criminal justice responses to infant killing and foetal harm. The wider context of Emma’s work is social controls and regulations of all women, notably in relation to pregnancy, sex, and motherhood.
Dr Mary Fraser is a modern social historian of the police. Her current work considers the extended role of the police, particularly in preventing civil unrest in the First World War. Her primary data sources are occupations journals. aims to produce research that informs policy and practice and advances our understanding of justice.
Madeline is an Associate Professor at the University of Greenwich. Madeline’s research interests are focused on women’s experiences in the justice system and trauma-informed approaches to rehabilitative practice. Madeline is professionally qualified as a Probation Officer and has specialised in working with women on community supervision and in custody. She has previously acted as Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Community Justice/Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) – the qualifying award for trainee Probation Officers.
David Adlington-Rivers is a PhD researcher exploring hope and resilience for people in and released from prison, and the role it plays in crime desistance. David has published a self-help book, Freedom is in the Mind, about the power of hope for people in prison.
Dr Natalie Rutter’s current research work focuses on the stigmatisation of criminalised women, and the role of social media within this. General research interests and focus fall within the areas of desistance, gender, stigmatisation and probation delivery with a focus on narrative, visual and inclusion methodologies.
Sarah Learmonth’s PhD research explores the effectiveness of bail use in rape cases from the perspective of adult female survivors and is an extension of her Masters study on bail use in rape cases.
The methodology includes primary interviews with women survivors and professionals in universities, police, social care, housing, barristers, solicitors and magistrates to explore what influence bail as protection discourse has on their affective evaluation of survivor allegations and claims to protection in the wider safeguarding framework. Survivors’ voices, indeed victims of any offence, have been consistently absent from any government consultations, policy, or legislation reform on bail, so it is in this context she argues the nexus of myth, discourse and affect serve ideological agendas with regard to the use of bail in rape cases, inhibiting knowledge construction in favour of preserving systemic authority.
A key focus of Professor Layla Skinns’ research is police detention, in England and Wales, but also in other parts of the Anglophone world. In this setting, Layla examines police powers and their relationship with the law, police cultures and police discretion, and furthermore, how this impacts on equality and on state-citizen relations. She is also interested in how the public – particularly detainees – perceive the police, which links her research to police legitimacy and ‘good’ policing.
Over the last 15 years she has led research projects funded by the British Academy, the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Economic and Social Research Council. The most recent of these is the ‘good’ police custody study, which sought to ‘robustly’ examine what is meant by ‘good’ police custody and to instigate changes to police custody policies and practices in England and Wales.
Professor Nicholas Hardwick’s research, teaching and practice builds and reflects on his previous roles leading organisations in the CJS. Nicholas’ particular interests are accountability in the criminal justice system, the administration and management of the prison system, and the impact on and implications of digital technologies for justice.
Professor Annison’s interest centre on how political and policy making dynamics relate to penal change. Substantively, his areas of interest mainly include probation and parole.
A main focus of Dr Katie Maras’ research is on autistic people’s experiences within the Criminal Justice System and the adaptations that can be made to accommodate their differences. Katie works with police and other legal professionals to provide evidence-based policy, guidance and training when working with autistic people, and she has particular expertise regarding police interviewing techniques. She is currently extending this work to courtroom questioning in a large ESRC-funded project running 2023-2026.
Professor Roman Gerodimos’ research explores the root causes, manifestations and effects of shame as a driver of violence, subjects explored in Interdisciplinary Applications of Shame/Violence Theory: Breaking the Cycle, a book Roman recently edited. He also designs and delivers shame-awareness workshops and works with diverse community groups – including museums, theatre ensembles, criminal justice stakeholders – to raise awareness of the role of shame across all levels from the individual to the social.
Dr Ed Johnston is currently researching how the effective use of Pre-Charge Engagement could help reduce the backlog in the criminal courts and provide swifter resolutions for all involved in the criminal justice system.
Danica Darley is a PhD student at the University of Sheffield who, having spent time in prison, has personal experience of the criminal justice system. Danica’s doctoral work examines the experiences of children in care with child criminal exploitation (CCE). The research hopes to contribute to a greater understanding as to why care-experienced young people can become criminally exploited. The project is co-produced with 3 young people who have experience of the care system and of child criminal exploitation.
Evidence-Based Justice Lab is a research group funded by UK Research and Innovation conducting work at the intersection of data science, psychology, and law, with a focus on the criminal justice system. It gathers data on various aspects of the criminal justice system (e.g. guilty pleas, jury decision-making, use of evidence) to examine how these aspects of the system are operating (or are likely to be operating) in practice. Evidence-Based Justice Lab does this through gathering qualitative and quantitative data both from real cases and from experimental work.
FrameWorks conducts in-depth research into public understandings on a range of social issues. From these insights, FrameWorks develops and tests language and framing strategies which will help mission-driven organisations build support for change. FrameWorks then offers practical communications advice, strategies and content.
Innovation Unit works to provide systems change for the public sector; growing and scaling the boldest and best innovations that deliver long-term impact for people, address persistent inequalities, and transform the systems that surround them. Innovation Unit’s innovation and impact formula combines decades of practical experience with recent research, to help partners design new solutions, implement them successfully and take them to scale for greater impact.