MsNicola Taylor Brown
Researcher
PGR Students
RESEARCH INTERESTS
PhD Topic: Understanding the needs of female victims of domestic abuse who themselves commit crime.
PhD Description
Women typically commit non-violent crimes, but the underlying nature of their offence can be deep-rooted trauma and destitution. Many of these women have been victims themselves, with emotional, sexual, or physical abuse as a child. The trauma that many have experienced throughout their lives, makes female offenders amongst the most vulnerable of all and the complexity of their needs include substance misuse, mental health problems, homelessness. Women offenders have a broad range of complex problems, some of which begin long before they enter the Criminal Justice System (CJS).
My PhD will aim to establish and understand the role that the voluntary, charitable and community sectors play in supporting women to avoid prison; it will critically evaluate the training needs amongst Criminal Justice System professionals; and will seek to understand the unmet needs of women offenders. Finally, it will develop and trial a "go to guide" for Criminal Justice professionals which will aid them in meeting the needs of women offenders who have also been victims of DA.
The somewhat predetermined course of UK female offenders is of notable interest to me. Factors including domestic and sexual abuse as well as other social, environmental or economic factors play a large part in turning victims into offenders, something which becomes clearer when closely examining the offences.
My PhD research focuses on the support received from Probation Officers and Women's only organisations on women in contact with the criminal justice system who are also victims of domestic abuse. My PhD aims to understand the experiences of these women via the practitioners that support them.
I hold a unique perspective and a specific interest in prisons and punishment as well as mental health and well-being. I have made direct links between complex theories of criminology and the day-to day demands of working practice by identifying the police, probation service, prisons and other criminal justice agencies as agents of justice within academic partnerships. My extensive knowledge of examining the responses to crime extends to issues associated with criminal justice agencies and institutions. I am interested in recidivism versus desistance and my knowledge extends to exploring how practitioners justify decisions made within practice in response to complex situations taking into consideration the appropriate interventions used by offender management.
My main interests centre around Criminology, Institutional Racism and the over representation of Black people in prisons, BAME perceptions and stigmas in Mental Health, Co-morbidity in anxiety and depression, Domestic Violence, and equal access to mental health services.
PhD Description
Women typically commit non-violent crimes, but the underlying nature of their offence can be deep-rooted trauma and destitution. Many of these women have been victims themselves, with emotional, sexual, or physical abuse as a child. The trauma that many have experienced throughout their lives, makes female offenders amongst the most vulnerable of all and the complexity of their needs include substance misuse, mental health problems, homelessness. Women offenders have a broad range of complex problems, some of which begin long before they enter the Criminal Justice System (CJS).
My PhD will aim to establish and understand the role that the voluntary, charitable and community sectors play in supporting women to avoid prison; it will critically evaluate the training needs amongst Criminal Justice System professionals; and will seek to understand the unmet needs of women offenders. Finally, it will develop and trial a "go to guide" for Criminal Justice professionals which will aid them in meeting the needs of women offenders who have also been victims of DA.
The somewhat predetermined course of UK female offenders is of notable interest to me. Factors including domestic and sexual abuse as well as other social, environmental or economic factors play a large part in turning victims into offenders, something which becomes clearer when closely examining the offences.
My PhD research focuses on the support received from Probation Officers and Women's only organisations on women in contact with the criminal justice system who are also victims of domestic abuse. My PhD aims to understand the experiences of these women via the practitioners that support them.
I hold a unique perspective and a specific interest in prisons and punishment as well as mental health and well-being. I have made direct links between complex theories of criminology and the day-to day demands of working practice by identifying the police, probation service, prisons and other criminal justice agencies as agents of justice within academic partnerships. My extensive knowledge of examining the responses to crime extends to issues associated with criminal justice agencies and institutions. I am interested in recidivism versus desistance and my knowledge extends to exploring how practitioners justify decisions made within practice in response to complex situations taking into consideration the appropriate interventions used by offender management.
My main interests centre around Criminology, Institutional Racism and the over representation of Black people in prisons, BAME perceptions and stigmas in Mental Health, Co-morbidity in anxiety and depression, Domestic Violence, and equal access to mental health services.