Centre for Criminology, Oxford

Description

The Centre houses a dynamic interdisciplinary research program focused on criminalisation, security, criminal justice, and punishment. The research encompasses international perspectives and various jurisdictions in the global north and south. Engagement with policymakers, practitioners, and civil society fosters criminological research contributing to improved politics surrounding order, crime, and justice.

The Centre provides high-quality graduate education in criminology to students worldwide, offering both master's and doctoral programs. These degrees are available to full-time and part-time students.

The Centre for Criminology is a prominent institution for social inquiry and graduate education in criminology and criminal justice. Its staff and students are dedicated to comprehending and addressing contemporary public policy challenges across different areas of order, justice, and control.

Criminology is regarded as a "meeting place" within the Centre, where staff members, originally trained in history, law, politics, international relations, psychology, and sociology, explore questions of order, justice, and control. This exploration takes place in conjunction with broader social sciences, social and political theory, and topics such as decolonisation, gender, political economy, race, and the future of a planet affected by climate change.

Research and policy engagement conducted by Centre staff focus on the following areas, which also serve as themes for doctoral research supervision:

Criminalisation
Criminal law, justice, and border control
Counter-terrorism and counter-extremism
Preventive justice
State regulation of family life
Justice
International and global criminal justice
Transitional justice
Youth justice
Crime, justice, and the family
Well-being of criminal justice workers
Ideologies in crime control
Punishment
Global perspectives on the death penalty
Prisons and incarceration
Immigration detention
Deportation
Citizenship deprivation
Prisoners' families
Maternal imprisonment
Children's rights
Penal cultures and policies
Security
Urban security and its impact on everyday life
Policing and private security
Challenges associated with automobility
Victimisation
Domestic violence and homicide
Online harms
Refugees
Victims in international criminal justice

Approaching these topics, the Centre adheres to several orientations and intellectual commitments unique to criminological research at Oxford:

International and global research focus, spanning numerous jurisdictions in the global north and south. Centre staff members are currently active in Australia, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and the UK.
A comprehensive conception of criminology that combines empirical inquiry, social theorising, and critical normative theorising about policing, criminal justice, punishment systems, and their alternatives.
An overarching interest in exploring how policing, criminal justice, and punishment shape social and political subjectivities, particularly in relation to race, gender, and membership.
A methodology that explores questions of order, crime, and justice while considering the politics of knowledge production and experimenting with innovative methodologies such as visual, digital, and decolonial approaches.
A commitment to close engagement with practitioners, policymakers, and diverse audiences to utilise criminology as a catalyst for building a more effective politics of order, justice, and control.