- Bath Spa University, School of Society, Enterprise and Environment, Faculty Memberadd
- I'm the Founding Chair of the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton. P... moreI'm the Founding Chair of the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton.
Previously I was Assistant Dean (Research and Postgraduate Affairs) in the College of Liberal Arts at Bath Spa University. I've held posts at Birmingham City University, Loughborough University, University of Leicester, and Portsmouth University.
I am currently Principal Investigator on a project funded by the Ministry of Justice with London College of Fashion. In 2016 I completed an evaluation of work funded by Youth Music for Birmingham Youth Offending Service. I specialise in researching the role of the arts and creative activities with challenging and vulnerable groups. Much of my work involves the evaluation of arts programmes in the criminal justice system, and I have received funding from the Home Office, Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts Alliance (now the NAACJ), the NHS, and several third-sector organisations. My work in this area was instrumental in challenging government policy on restrictions to arts activities in prisons: I served as an advisor to the Arts Alliance Evidence Advisory Group from 2011-2013, consulting on collating, enhancing, reviewing, and disseminating the evidence base for the arts. In 2011 my research was highlighted in Research Councils UK Big Ideas for the Future report, and my methodological approach to evidencing the impact of the arts was cited as an example of good practice by the Charities Evaluation Service. In that year I was also presented with a commendation award from the Howard League for Penal Reform for my research on the arts in prisons and this work formed the basis of a successful a REF 2014 impact case study. In November 2016 I spoke at the House of Lords about the impact of the arts on health and wellbeing in criminal justice settings.
Current PhD students:
Ella Simpson - The arts and redemption narratives of women in prison
Amina El-Warari - The employment needs of refugee men
Richard Lewis - Undercover policing
I publish widely in academic and professional arenas, and serve on the editorial boards of a number of academic journals:
Forensic Update
Journal of Social Criminology
Journal of Criminal Psychologyedit
Research Interests: Criminology and Routledge
Research Interests: Criminology and Routledge
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The association between local authority care and offending behaviour was examined in 250 looked after young people of the age of criminal responsibility. Whilst a greater number of the young people had committed offences than in the... more
The association between local authority care and offending behaviour was examined in 250 looked after young people of the age of criminal responsibility. Whilst a greater number of the young people had committed offences than in the general population, the vast majority were law abiding. For those who did offend, the care episode itself was unlikely to have been the sole cause of their delinquency. The findings suggest that the services offered once the young people entered local authority care did not succeed in combating established offending behaviour. Perhaps initiatives targeted in the community prior to entry to care may be more effective.
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Abstract Fear of crime continues to be a significant problem individually, socially, politically and economically. This article evaluates a local level initiative in Durham, a city in north-east England, aimed at reducing fear of crime by... more
Abstract Fear of crime continues to be a significant problem individually, socially, politically and economically. This article evaluates a local level initiative in Durham, a city in north-east England, aimed at reducing fear of crime by improving the surrounding environment. Durham bus station, an area of the city identified by the local police as a'hotspot'for criminal and anti-social activity, was cleaned and redecorated by offenders as part of their Community Service Orders, under the supervision of County Durham Probation Service. ...
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Purpose There is evidence that music programmes can have a positive impact on people in contact with the criminal justice system. However, little attention has been paid to the potential role of music programmes as people leave prison and... more
Purpose There is evidence that music programmes can have a positive impact on people in contact with the criminal justice system. However, little attention has been paid to the potential role of music programmes as people leave prison and re-enter the community. Providing support for former prisoners “through-the-gate” is important to aid resettlement and reduce the risk of reoffending. This paper aims to present research on a programme called Sounding Out: a two-year, London-based programme providing ex-prisoners with longer-term rehabilitative opportunities upon their release to bridge the gap between life inside and outside of prison. Design/methodology/approach The study aimed to understand the impact of the Sounding Out programme on ex-prisoners from the perspective of participants, staff and family members. Semi-structured interviews took place with 17 people: ten participants across two Sounding Out projects; six members of staff – three from the Irene Taylor Trust, two music...
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Research Interests: Engineering and Routledge
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Research Interests: Sociology and Ethnography
This report is an evaluation of Rideout’s Talent 4… Europe programme. Talent 4… is an arts-based diagnostic programme designed to help participants identify personal strengths and skills to help increase motivation and inform better... more
This report is an evaluation of Rideout’s Talent 4… Europe programme. Talent 4… is an arts-based diagnostic programme designed to help participants identify personal strengths and skills to help increase motivation and inform better decision making about future training or employment. This evaluation analyses data from a total of 234 participants of the workshop that were delivered by seven partner organisations in six EU countries in 2013 & 2014. Data shows a statistically significant impact on raising aspirations of those taking part. Talent 4… Europe activity was a Transfer of Innovation project funded by the EU Leonardo Lifelong Learning Programme. Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation) was established in 1999 in order to develop innovative, arts-based approaches to working with prisoners and staff within U.K. prisons.
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This thesis examines the life experiences of a sample of women in English prisons. It is focused on developing a greater understanding of the experiences and needs of women in prison in areas where the research literature is lacking, or... more
This thesis examines the life experiences of a sample of women in English prisons. It is focused on developing a greater understanding of the experiences and needs of women in prison in areas where the research literature is lacking, or where women s experiences are not yet fully understood. The research is set within the context of significant increases in the women s prison population, developments in policy and practice relating to the treatment of women offenders, and recent reports from the Ministry of Justice that the UK government lacks a thorough understanding of the needs of women in prison. Approved by HM Prison Service National Research Committee, the research includes review of Offender Assessment System records and in-depth interviews with 43 women from three English prisons. Adopting a primarily qualitative approach, the data are thematically analysed with the aid of NVivo to explore women s experiences in childhood and growing up; adult life circumstances; parenthood;...
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The Irene Taylor Trust runs a music traineeship (Sounding Out) providing ex-prisoners with longer-term rehabilitative opportunities upon their release to bridge the gap between life inside and outside of prison. Through music creation,... more
The Irene Taylor Trust runs a music traineeship (Sounding Out) providing ex-prisoners with longer-term rehabilitative opportunities upon their release to bridge the gap between life inside and outside of prison. Through music creation, performance, training and work placements, the programme aims to develop transferable team working and communication skills, instil discipline, increase self-confidence, self-esteem and self-motivation, improve social skills and develop mentoring skills. The Institute for Community Research and Development was commissioned to undertake an independent evaluation of the programme. The evaluation took a qualitative approach to explore the views and experiences of participants, staff and family members to understand if and how Sounding Out is successful, identifying any barriers to success and making evidence-based recommendations for improvements.
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Research Interests: Psychology and The Arts
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and understand what the existing evidence base concludes about the needs of this population. The older prisoner population is growing faster than the older general population and placing a... more
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and understand what the existing evidence base concludes about the needs of this population. The older prisoner population is growing faster than the older general population and placing a strain on prisons. Much of the existing literature focusses on the health-care needs of, or in-prison initiatives for, older prisoners. Typically, these are responsive and lacking an evidence-based understanding of the characteristics and needs of this group. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a systematic review of the existing literature on the needs and characteristics of older people in contact with the criminal justice system. After a thorough search and selection process, 21 papers, from 2002 onwards, were included in the final analysis. The review process was structured through (People, Intervention/Exposure, Comparison, Outcome) and reported using (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). Findings The c...
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In response to some of the criticisms of previous research into the arts in criminal justice, this article presents findings from research with a music programme run by a Youth Offending team (YOT). Data were collected on the attendance... more
In response to some of the criticisms of previous research into the arts in criminal justice, this article presents findings from research with a music programme run by a Youth Offending team (YOT). Data were collected on the attendance of 42 participants at YOT appointments – matched against a comparison group – and measures of change over time in musical development, attitudes and behaviour and well-being. Participants who completed the music programme were statistically more likely to attend YOT appointments than a comparison group. There were statistically significant improvements in participants’ self-reported well-being and musical ability over the course of the project. Effect sizes reached the minimum important difference for quantitative measures. To understand not just if, but how, any impact was achieved, and to ensure the voice of the young people was heard, the quantitative elements of the research were complemented and extended by in-depth interviews with 23 participants.
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This article sets out a dialogue on the impact of music on people and society. The perspectives of three researchers, from different experiential and methodological backgrounds, are presented. The article explores: how we define concepts... more
This article sets out a dialogue on the impact of music on people and society. The perspectives of three researchers, from different experiential and methodological backgrounds, are presented. The article explores: how we define concepts of impact; how we seek to measure the impact of engaging with music, providing examples from our own recent work; and tensions in attempting to capture or measure the ‘magic’ of music, including how to meet the needs of different audiences and how to develop new ways to capture impact. The authors reflect on the political climate in which music interventions operate, including the need to ask different questions at different times for different audiences, concluding that it is vital to measure both whether there is any impact, how this impact was achieved, and people’s experiences of engaging with music. We found consensus about the need to move evidence forwards through both the use of arts-based creative methods that focus on the music-making proc...
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The increasing ageing prison population is becoming a pressing issue throughout the criminal justice system. Alongside the rising population, are a host of health and wellbeing issues that contribute to older offenders needs whilst in... more
The increasing ageing prison population is becoming a pressing issue throughout the criminal justice system. Alongside the rising population, are a host of health and wellbeing issues that contribute to older offenders needs whilst in prison. It has been recommended that meaningful activities can have positive effects on this population and therefore this paper uniquely reviews older offenders accounts of taking part in an arts based project, Good Vibrations, whilst imprisoned. The Good Vibrations project engages individuals in Gamelan music making with an end of project performance. This study used independent in-depth interviews to capture the voices of older offenders who took part in an art based prison project. The interview data was analysed using thematic analysis, which highlighted themes that were consistent with other populations who have taken part in a Good Vibrations project, along with specific age relating issues of mobility, motivation, identity and wellbeing.
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Purpose Large numbers of women in prison report significant emotional and mental health problems, and there is evidence to suggest that the prison environment may exacerbate the incidence and severity of these issues (Armour, 2012).... more
Purpose Large numbers of women in prison report significant emotional and mental health problems, and there is evidence to suggest that the prison environment may exacerbate the incidence and severity of these issues (Armour, 2012). However, there has been limited exploration of the extent to which women’s mental health problems exist prior to incarceration, whether symptoms first occur in incarceration, and how incarceration affects this. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with 43 women incarcerated in three English prisons and a thematic analysis of the data was conducted. Review of official prison records provided a form of data triangulation. Findings Analysis of the data revealed that while many women who experienced mental health issues in prison had experienced these issues in the past, a number of women reported first experiencing mental health and emotional problems only after entering prison. Although thes...
Research Interests: Criminology, Forensic Psychology, Mental Health, Women, Qualitative Research, and 15 moreAdolescent, England, Prisons, Humans, Needs Assessment, Female, Mental Disorders, Mental health services, Middle Aged, Prisoners, Adult, Prisoner Health, Socioeconomic Factors, Severity of Illness Index, and Interviews as topic
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ABSTRACT Qualitative data are presented following a series of four studies where participants completed a quantitative reasoning task followed by either an interview or an audio diary. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic... more
ABSTRACT Qualitative data are presented following a series of four studies where participants completed a quantitative reasoning task followed by either an interview or an audio diary. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006) with three main themes emerging: emotions; reasoning approach; and justifications. High schizotypal scorers demonstrated limited emotional responses compared with low scorers, and where emotions were expressed, individuals made these in relation to themselves rather than the presented scenario. Results contribute to a better understanding of the biases that high-scoring individuals experience and provide further evidence for ‘jump to conclusions’ biases in reasoning about crime.
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Part One: The Importance of Criminological Research, 1. Context: power, knowledge, and politics, 2. Significance: the importance of criminological research, 3. Ethics in criminological research, Part Two, Getting Going with Criminological... more
Part One: The Importance of Criminological Research, 1. Context: power, knowledge, and politics, 2. Significance: the importance of criminological research, 3. Ethics in criminological research, Part Two, Getting Going with Criminological Research, 4. Planning: Where do research ideas come from?, 5. Critiquing the literature: What do we know already?, 6. The relationship between theories and methods, 7. Preparing for the practical challenges of real-world crime research, Part Three, Doing Criminological Research: Data Collection, 8. Conducting interviews and focus groups, 9. Ethnography, case studies, and life-history approaches, 10. Questionnaires and surveys, 11. Using secondary data sources, Part Four, Doing Criminological Research: Analysis and writing-up, 12. Analysing the data: Quantitative analysis, 13. Analysing the data: Qualitative analysis, 14. Analysing the data: Documents, images, and other data, 15. Writing-up criminological research.
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The association between local authority care and offending behaviour was examined in 250 looked after young people of the age of criminal responsibility. Whilst a greater number of the young people had committed offences than in the... more
The association between local authority care and offending behaviour was examined in 250 looked after young people of the age of criminal responsibility. Whilst a greater number of the young people had committed offences than in the general population, the vast majority were law abiding. For those who did offend, the care episode itself was unlikely to have been the sole cause of their delinquency. The findings suggest that the services offered once the young people entered local authority care did not succeed in combating established offending behaviour. Perhaps initiatives targeted in the community prior to entry to care may be more effective.
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Offenders, Deviants or Patients? by Herschel Prins is now in its fourth edition. Originally published in 1980, this is a book that I first came across as an undergraduate student when the book was in its second edition, and my copy of the... more
Offenders, Deviants or Patients? by Herschel Prins is now in its fourth edition. Originally published in 1980, this is a book that I first came across as an undergraduate student when the book was in its second edition, and my copy of the third edition has been well used over the past few years. I was, though, surprised to see that this fourth edition had been published relatively soon after the third compared with the 10-year gap between previous editions, and found myself wondering if it really could add anything worthwhile to that well-thumbed ...
Research Interests: Law and Clinical Sciences
Developing collaborative and cooperative research across academic disciplines and university administrative boundaries can be a challenge. In an attempt to understand and propose solutions to this challenge, the authors of this paper set... more
Developing collaborative and cooperative research across academic disciplines and university administrative boundaries can be a challenge. In an attempt to understand and propose solutions to this challenge, the authors of this paper set out to: test an innovative combination of methods to generate and evaluate ideas and strategies; and to write about the findings using collaborative online methods. During this process Universities in the UK moved to online working and so the authors completed this paper through entirely online means. The authors-a team of academic researchers from the University of Wolverhampton-came together in sessions designed as a hybrid of World Café and Delphi technique approaches to discuss challenges and solutions. The findings were written up drawing on insights from the use of massively authored papers (also known as 'massively open online papers', MOOPs), and online tools to enable remote collaboration. This paper presents details of the process, the findings, and reflections on this collaborative and cooperative exercise. That this paper was written using the methods discussed within it, highlights the value and success of the approach. In light of the current Coronavirus pandemic and the increased need to work remotely, this paper offers academics useful strategies for meaningful and productive online collaboration.
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The Irene Taylor Trust runs a music traineeship (Sounding Out) providing ex-prisoners with longer-term rehabilitative opportunities upon their release to bridge the gap between life inside and outside of prison. Through music creation,... more
The Irene Taylor Trust runs a music traineeship (Sounding Out) providing ex-prisoners with longer-term rehabilitative opportunities upon their release to bridge the gap between life inside and outside of prison. Through music creation, performance, training and work placements, the programme aims to develop transferable team working and communication skills, instil discipline, increase self-confidence,
self-esteem and self-motivation, improve social skills and develop mentoring skills.
The Institute for Community Research and Development was commissioned to undertake an independent evaluation of the programme. The evaluation took a qualitative approach to explore the views and experiences of participants, staff and family members to understand if and how Sounding Out is successful, identifying any barriers to success and making evidence-based recommendations for improvements.
self-esteem and self-motivation, improve social skills and develop mentoring skills.
The Institute for Community Research and Development was commissioned to undertake an independent evaluation of the programme. The evaluation took a qualitative approach to explore the views and experiences of participants, staff and family members to understand if and how Sounding Out is successful, identifying any barriers to success and making evidence-based recommendations for improvements.