Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe

Biography

Loraine Gelsthorpe is an Emeritus Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. She is also a Fellow at Pembroke College. In addition to the above roles, Loraine sits on various University Committees including the General Board Education Committee and the Board of Graduate Studies (from 1 October 2020, the BGS will be replaced by the University Post-Graduate Research Committee, and Loraine will be Chair of this committee). Loraine was Director of the Institute from 2017-2022. Loraine has wide interests in the links between criminal justice and social justice, looking at race, gender and social exclusion, women and sentencing, and women, crime and criminal justice more generally. Her research includes a focus on the effectiveness of youth and community penalties and on pre-sentence reports. She also has a strong interest in research methodologies and research ethics; human trafficking and the criminalisation of migrants.

Loraine has lived in Cambridge since the early 1980s when she came to do an MPhil in Criminology, though the call of a PhD was stronger than a return to a social work career. After the PhD she had a number of post-doc appointments at Lancaster, UCNW (Bangor) and at the LSE, which involved work with the Metropolitan Police and London boroughs on diversion from prosecution; men's prisons in the Midlands; and race and gender issues in pre-sentence reports respectively. She began working for the University of Cambridge in 1991. Professor Gelsthorpe sits on various government Advisory Committees (including HM Chief Inspector of Probation’s Advisory Committee) and is one of two Deputy Chairs of the 2021 REF exercise (Social Policy/Social Work sub-panel 20). She was President of the British Society of Criminology 2011 - 2015. With Professor Michele Burman (University of Glasgow) she chairs the European Society of Criminology's Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice Working Group.

Professor Gelsthorpe is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She was an 11+ failure and increasingly sees a need to speak out about this - to encourage others whose own routes in higher education may not be traditional. Loraine is a psychoanalytical psychotherapist in her 'spare time', and a trustee of Pembroke House, a community centre in Walworth, South London.

Research

Research Interests and Topics (for prospective students)

Professor Gelsthorpe is happy to discuss the following possibilities:

What works with women offenders?
Pre-sentence reports: old and new; their content, value and use
The supervision of offenders in the community
Resettlement issues in the community
The criminalisation of migrants
Diversion from the court
Deaths under criminal justice supervision in the community
Human trafficking issues
Decision-making in the criminal justice system
The development of criminal justice policy since the 1950s
Deaths under community supervision
Any other topic broadly relating to Community, Gender and Social Justice

Past and Current Research

Professor Gelsthorpe has carried out a number of research studies since the mid-1980s, including work on police decision-making with regard to juvenile offenders; the operation of multi-agency juvenile panels; the role of the Crown Prosecution Service in juvenile justice; gender issues in youth justice; the theory, policy and practice of attendance centres; the treatment of fine defaulters in magistrates’ courts; and race and gender issues in social inquiry reports. She has also conducted work on Home Office-funded projects on inter-agency aspects of crime prevention strategies, on pre-sentence reports, on the sentencing of women and on community service orders (now known as unpaid work) as a requirement of a Community Order.

Current research interests revolve around notions of criminal and social justice in sentencing; women and criminal justice; the development of criminological and social theories in their social and political context since 1945; community penalties (including deaths under community supervision); and social exclusion, crime and justice. Empirical work includes a focus on resettlement issues for women – particularly those connected to housing – aspects of trauma experienced by both women in conflict with the law, and staff who work with them, as well as what works for women in conflict with the law. Loraine maintains a strong interest in methodological issues (particularly ethical and psychoanalytical dimensions of the research process).

Publications

Key publications:

Professor Gelsthorpe's publications include several books, the most recent of which are:

The Wiley Handbook on What Works with Girls and Women in Conflict with the Law: A Critical Review of Theory, Practice, and Policy (2022) Edited by S. L. Brown & L. Gelsthorpe (Wiley Series in Offender Rehabilitation)
Spaces of Care. An Interdisciplinary Exploration of ‘Care’. (2020). Edited by L. Gelsthorpe, B. Sloan, & P. Mody. Oxford: Hart.
Research Ethics in Criminology: Dilemmas, Issues and Solutions. (2016). Edited by M. Cowburn, L. Gelsthorpe & A. Wahidin. London: Routledge.

She has also published over 200 journal articles, book chapters and reports, some of which are listed below:

Dominey, J., & Gelsthorpe, L. (2020). ‘Resettlement and the case for women’. Probation Journal
Gelsthorpe, L. (2019). ‘What works with Female Offenders?’ A UK Perspective. In P. Ugwudike, H. Graham, F. McNeill, P. Raynor, F. Taxman and C. Trotter (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Rehabilitative Work in Criminal Justice. London: Routledge.
Phillips, J., Gelsthorpe, L. and Padfield, N. (2019). ‘Deaths While under Probation Supervision: What Role for Human Rights Legislation?’. Political Quarterly, 90, 3, 439-448. Published online (Wiley)
Puigvert, L., Gelsthorpe, L., Soler-Gallart, M., & Flecha, R. (2019). ‘Girls’ perceptions of boys with violent attitudes and behaviours, and of sexual attraction’. (Palgrave Communications, 5, article 56)
Gelsthorpe, L., & Russell, J. (2018). ‘Women and Penal Reform: Two steps forwards, three steps backwards?’. Political Quarterly, 89, 2, 227-236
Gelsthorpe, L. (2018). ‘Women, Crime and Criminal Justice: Tales of Two Cities’. In E. Milne, K. Brennan and N. South (Eds.), Women and the Criminal Justice System: Failing Victims and Offenders? (pp 221-244). Palgrave Macmillan.
Phillips, J., Padfield, N., & Gelsthorpe, L. (2018). ‘Suicide and Community Justice’. Health & Justice, 6, 1, 14
Gelsthorpe, L. (2018). ‘After Corston: community, change, and challenges’. In L. Moore, P. Scraton and A. Wahidin (Eds), Women’s Imprisonment and the case for abolition. Critical Reflections on Corston ten years on. Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge.
Burman, M., & Gelsthorpe, L. (2017). ‘Feminist Criminology: Inequalities, powerlessness, and justice’. In A. Liebling, S. Maruna, and L. McAra (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Criminology (6^th edition). Oxford University Press.
Dominey, J., & Gelsthorpe, L. (2017). ‘Competing to control in the community. What chance for a culture of care?’. In A. Hucklesby and S. Lister, The Private Sector and Criminal Justice. (pp 195-222) Springer.
Gelsthorpe, L., & Abbas, M-S. (2017). ‘Supervising offenders in the community: vision, values and human rights’. In L. Weber, E. Fishwick and M. Marmo (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Criminology and Human Rights London: Routledge
Phillips, J., Gelsthorpe, L., & Padfield, N. (2017). ‘Non-custodial deaths: Missing, ignored or unimportant?’ Criminology & Criminal Justice, 19, 2, pp 160-178
Phillips, J., Gelsthorpe, L., Padfield, N. & The Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2017). ‘Reducing, not displacing risk’: Report from a seminar on working together to prevent non-natural deaths after custody.
Gelsthorpe, L., & Durnescu, I. (2016). ‘Probation supervision for women and young offenders’. In H. Kury, S. Redo and E. Shea (Eds.), Women and Children as Victims and offenders: Background, Prevention, Reintegration.(Part IV, Vol 2, pp 117-143). Springer.
Phillips, J., Gelsthorpe, L., Padfield, N. & Buckingham, S. (2016). Non-Natural Deaths Following Prison and Police Custody, Research Report 106. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, Manchester
Gelsthorpe, L., & Wright, S. (2015). ‘The context: women as lawbreakers’. In J. Annison, J. Brayford and J. Deering (Eds.), Women and Criminal Justice. (pp 39-58) Bristol: Policy Press.
Gelsthorpe, L., & Sharpe, G. (2015). ‘Women and Sentencing: Challenges and Choices’. In J. V. Roberts (ed) Exploring Sentencing Practice in England and Wales. (Palgrave Macmillan, pp118-136)
Gelsthorpe, L. (2013). ‘Legitimacy, law and locality: Making the case for change'. In M. Malloch and G. McIvor (eds) Women, Punishment and Social Justice. Human rights and penal practices. (Routledge)
Gelsthorpe, L. (2013.) Working with Women in Probation: 'Will You, Won't You, Will You, Won't You, Won't You Join the Dance? In P. Ugwudike and P. Raynor (eds) What Works in Offender Compliance. (Palgrave Macmillan, pp 279-294)
Hales, L., & Gelsthorpe, L. (2012). The Criminalisation of Migrant Women. Research funded by the ESRC
Gelsthorpe, L., Padfield, N., & Phillips, J. (2012). Deaths on Probation. An analysis of data regarding people dying under probation supervision. Howard League for Penal Reform.
Gelsthorpe, L., & Worrall, A. (2009). ‘Looking for Trouble: A Recent History of Girls, Young Women, and Youth Justice’. In a special Issue of Youth Justice. An International Journal on Girls, Young Women and Youth Justice. Youth Justice, 9, 3, pp 209-223. Edited with G. Sharpe
Worrall, A., & Gelsthorpe, L. (2009). 'What Works' with Women Offenders: The past 30 years, Probation Journal, 56, 4, pp 329-345.
Gelsthorpe, L., Sharpe, G., & Roberts, J. (2007). Provision for Women Offenders in the Community. (2007) A report for the Fawcett Society
Gelsthorpe, L, & Morgan, R. (2007). (Eds). Handbook of Probation. Willan Publishing
Gelsthorpe, L. (2007). The Jack-Roller: Telling a Story? Theoretical Criminology, 11, 4, pp 515-542
Gelsthorpe, L., & Skins, L. (2006). Restorative Practices: Repairing Harm through Kith and Kin. In F. Ebtehaj, B. Lindley and M. Richards (eds) Kinship Matters. (Hart, pp 155-172)
Gelsthorpe, L. (2005). Back to Basics in Crime Control: Weaving in Women. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 7,2, pp 76-103
Brooks-Gordon, B., Gelsthorpe, L., Johnson, M., & Bainham, A. (2005). (Eds.) Sexuality Repositioned: Diversity and the Law. Hart Publishing
Gelsthorpe, L., & Padfield, N. (2003). (Eds.). Exercising Discretion: Decision-making in the criminal justice system and beyond. Willan Publishing
Bottoms, A. E., Gelsthorpe, L., & Rex, S. (2001). (Eds.) Community Penalties: Change and Challenges (Cambridge Criminal Justice Series) Willan Publishing
Hedderman, C., & Gelsthorpe, L. (1997). Understanding the Sentencing of Women. Home Office research study 170. London: Home Office
Gelsthorpe, L. (1993). Minority Ethnic Groups in the Criminal Justice System: Papers Presented to 21^st Cropwood Roundtable Conference. Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:4326.110(170)
Morris, A., & Gelsthorpe,L. (1990). Feminist Perspectives in Criminology: Transforming and Transgressing. Women & Criminal Justice Journal, 2, 2, pp3-26
Gelsthorpe, L. (1989). Sexism and the Female Offender. Cambridge Studies in Criminology. Aldershot: Gower

Emeritus Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Director of the Centre for Community, Gender and Social Justice (based in the Institute).

Director of the Cambridge ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (within the School of Humanities and Social Sciences).

Chair of the Advisory Committee, Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement

Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement (a multi-disciplinary university centre, hosted by the Institute of Criminology). [2017 - October 2020]

Fellow of Pembroke College.