Charlene Crossley
Senior Lecturer in Police Studies
Charlene is a criminologist with extensive experience of working in the criminal justice system. She has recently completed a PhD in Criminology and specialises in youth transitions and the aspirations of young people living in gang labelled neighbourhoods. From her PhD Charlene has developed a particular expertise in participatory action research engaging young people at all stages of her project including geographical mapping and creative writing. As an academic in the institute of Policing, she utilises this creative approach in her teaching of various modules.
Charlene has varied experience in the field of Criminal Justice and research working at Manchester Metropolitan University, Greater Manchester Probation Trust (GMPT) and through training as a Prison law solicitor and volunteering as a Magistrate. She has a strong passion for working in the criminal justice system and in particularly looking at some of the inequalities.
X/Twitter: @creative_crim
Charlene is module leader for Police Legislation and Criminal Justice, Criminological Theory and Comparative Global Policing Models. She is also responsible for the supervision of both under-graduate and post-graduate dissertations.
Prior to joining the University of Chester, Charlene has extensive teaching experience teaching on the Sociology/ Criminology and Law Programmes at Manchester Metropolitan University. This included teaching Criminal Law, Tort Law, youth justice, youth gangs and Criminological theory. Through her teaching and research, she is seeking to challenge some of the inequalities within the criminal justice system.
Charlene has a record of research within the Criminal Justice sector looking particularly at gangs, youth violence and domestic abuse. She has undertaken work for both national and voluntary sector organisations and criminal justice statutory organisations. She has completed research as part of the Ending Gangs and Youth Violence Strategy (2011) and an evaluation of the Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme (IDAP). She is proficient in the use of qualitative, participatory and creative methods and has specialist research interests in young people, youth transitions, aspirations, youth gangs and knife crime.
Charlene is the co-producer of a research network for creative methods in Criminology.
Recent Publications
Price, J., Wilkinson, D.J., & Crossley, C. (2023). Children and young peoples’ lyrics and voices capturing their experiences within Youth Justice Services, Safer Communities.
Wilkinson, D.J., Price, J., and Crossley, C.(2022). Developing creative methodologies: using lyric writing to capture young peoples’ experiences of the Youth Offending Service during the Covid19 pandemic.
Crossley, C. (2019). There is no comprehensive national figure for the number of gangs or the number of young people involved or associated with gangs, in, Treadwell, J. and Lynes, A. 50 Facts Everyone should know about Crime and Punishment in Britain. Bristol: Policy Press.
- PhD Criminology and Sociology (Pending)
- Graduate Diploma in Law
- LPC
- BA (Hons) Criminology and Sociology
- Associate fellow HEA