Translating  Practice  into  Policy:  the  value  of  practitioner-­‐led  research  -­‐  the  Griffins  Society  model  

Dr  Debra  Baldwin:    Debra  works  on  the  Transforming  Rehabilitation  Programme  in  the  MOJ  and  is  the  strategic  lead  on  female  offenders.    She  is  leading  on  work  to  enhance  community  provision  to  inform  sentencing  options,  which  is  one  of  the  four  strategic  objectives  for  the  Advisory  Board  on  Female  Offenders.    Debra  has  previously  worked  in  NOMS  as  Head  of  Women  and  Equalities,  and  as  Head  of  Safer  Custody.        Prior  to  moving  into  HQ,  Debra  worked  in  prisons  most  recently  as  Governor  of  HMYOI  Deerbolt.  She  has  also  worked  in  three  female  prisons  and  was  Deputy  Governor  at  HMP  Styal.    Debra’s  PhD  in  Social  Policy  and  Social  Work,  was  an  ethnographic  study  of  young  people  growing  up  in  care  and  the  transitions  they  make  to  adulthood  compared  to  young  people  who  grew  up  in  their  families.    Two  of  her  main  motivators  are  tacking  inequality  and  discrimination,  and  a  belief  that  together  we  can  help  people  turn  their  lives  around.    

Louise  Clark:    Louise  works  as  a  Local  Development  Worker  with  Clinks.  She  is  also  a  researcher  with  the  Sex  Work  Research  project  in  Wales.    She  previously  co-­‐managed  Eden  House  Bristol,  a  NOMS  project  diverting  women  from  custody.    She  developed  and  managed  the  Sex  Workers  in  Prison  project  (SWIP),  co-­‐ordinated  VCS  services  at  HMP  Eastwood  Park  and  contributed  to:  ‘The  Pain  Inside'  book  for  women  in  prison  who  self-­‐injure;  and  ‘Going  Home'  a  resettlement  DVD  for  Welsh  Women.  She  has  developed  new  initiatives  for  socially  excluded  groups,  including  young  mothers  and  homeless  teenagers.      Published  in  the  UK,  Australia  and  Bolivia,  work  includes  ‘Street  Sex  Workers'  Experience  of  Accessing  Health  Services'  (Department  of  Health)  and  the  just  published  a  Clinks’  report  ‘Run  Ragged  (interim  findings):  The  experience  of  projects  delivering  female  offenders  services  in  the  community’.  She  has  participated  in  the  Symposium  on  Women,  Human  Rights  and  Prostitution  in  Vienna,  conducted  seminars  on  'Sex  Workers  In  Prison  and  Harm  Minimisation'  at  the  University  of  New  South  Wales  and  the  Sisters  Inside'  International  Conference,  Australia.  In  Bolivia  she  volunteered  with  a  prison  project  for  children,  worked  with  penal  campaigners  on  improving  support  for  women  in  prison  and  supported  the  development  of  a  sex  workers'  network.  Louise  was  Fellow  of  the  Griffins  Society  in  2005-­‐06.    

Professor  Loraine  Gelsthorpe:  Professor  Gelsthorpe  is  Professor  of  Criminology  and  Criminal  Justice  at  the  Institute  of  Criminlogy,  University  of  Cambridge,  Director  of  the  Centre  for  Community,  Gender  and  Social  Justice;  Director  of  the  Cambridge  ESRC  Doctoral  Training  Centre;  Joint  Convenor:  CAMMIGRES  (Cambridge  Migration  Research  Network).    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  juvenile  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.    

1  

     

 

                                                                                             

 

Recent  and  current  research  interests  revolve  around  notions  of  criminal  and  social  justice  in  sentencing,  youth  justice  issues,  women  and  criminal  justice,  the  development  of  criminological  and  social  theories  in  their  social  and  political  context  since  1945,  community  penalties,  and  social  exclusion,  crime  and  justice.  Empirical  work  includes  a  focus  on  resettlement  issues  for  women  -­‐  particularly  those  connected  to  housing  as  well  as  on  diversion  from  the  court  for  offenders  experiencing  mental  health  problems,  deaths  under  probation  supervision,  and  the  criminalisation  of  migrant  women.  Loraine  maintains  a  strong  interest  in  methodological  issues  (particularly  psychoanalytical  dimensions  of  the  research  process).  Professor  Gelsthorpe  also  chairs  the  European  Society  of  Criminology  Gender,  Crime  and  Criminal  Justice  Working  Group.      

Professor  Carol  Hedderman:  Carol  Hedderman  was  appointed  Professor  of  Criminology  at  the  University  of  Leicester  in  October  2004.  Throughout  most  of  her  earlier  research  career  Carol  worked  in  the  Home  Office  where,  ultimately,  she  had  lead  responsibility  for  all  statistics  and  research  into  sentencing  and  the  management  and  impact  of  the  prison  and  probation  services.    Between  1999  and  2002,  Carol  took  a  leave  of  absence  to  work  as  Deputy  Director  of  the  Criminal  Policy  Research  Unit  (London  Southbank  University)  where  she  led  projects  on  a  range  of  topics  including  probation  enforcement,  the  effectiveness  of  employment  schemes  for  offenders  and  an  assessment  of  different  approaches  to  reducing  domestic  burglary.  She  also  served  on  the  Parole  Board  during  this  period.        Carol's  most  recent  publications  include  a  study  of  how  judges  and  magistrates  approach  the  sentencing  of  women  offenders.    She  has  also  recently  published  another  article  reviewing  evidence  from  payment  by  results  schemes  in  education,  health  and  employment  in  order  to  consider  the  implications  for  payment  by  results  schemes  in  criminal  justice.  She  is  currently  involved  in  the  reconviction  study  being  conducted  in  relation  to  the  payment  by  results  project  at  Peterborough  Prison.  Her  research  interests  include:  the  effectiveness  of  sentencing  and  other  interventions  in  assisting  desistance;  reconviction  studies  and  the  development  of  alternative  measures  of  effectiveness;  and  improving  the  treatment  of  women  who  offend  by  the  criminal  justice  system.      Roma  Hooper:  Roma  Hooper  worked  in  the  disability  field  for  many  years  as  assistant  director  for  Contact  a  Family,  a  charity  supporting  families  with  disabled  children.  At  the  invitation  of  Feltham  Young  Offenders,  she  helped  establish  Radio  Feltham  in  1994,  the  UK’s  first  prison  radio  station.  Roma  has  a  Masters  in  Criminal  Justice  Policy  from  the  LSE  and  she  went  on  to  become  the  first  voluntary  sector  coordinator  at  HMYOI  Feltham  for  two  years  until  2003.  She  received  a  commendation  for  her  work  at  the  2006  Lord  Longford  awards  for  services  to  social  justice  and  penal  reform.  In  2006  Roma  set  up  the  Prison  Radio  Association  that  has  established  a  national  prison  radio  station  of  which  she  is  now  Chair.    She  co-­‐produced  the  two  Clinks  national  resource  packs  to  support  volunteering  in  prisons  and  the  community  and  was  Director  of  Hooper  Walker  Community  Interest  Company.      In  2008  Roma  set  up  Make  Justice  Work,  the  campaign  to  highlight  the  wastefulness  of  short-­‐term  prison  sentences  and  promote  the  wider  adoption  of  intensive  community  sentences.  The  campaign  closed  in  June  2013  but  Roma  will  continue  to  invest  her  energies  in  the  campaigning  field  and  the  voluntary  organisations  she  is  close  to.    Roma  is  the  current  Chair  of  the  Griffins  Society.                                                                        

2                                                              

 

     

                                                                                               

 

 

Sue  Jordan:  Sue  Jordan  works  as  a  Senior  Probation  Officer  with  Leicestershire  and  Rutland  Probation  Trust,  managing  a  large  city  centre  offender  management  team.  Prior  to  entering  the  criminal  justice  world  she  was  in  academia,  worked  for  NACRO,  managed  a  hostel  for  young  people  leaving  care  and  acted  as  a  senior  sub-­‐  warden  in  a  university  hall  of  residence.  She  has  worked  in  the  probation  service  for  24  years  in  a  variety  of  settings  including  prisons,  hostels,  resettlement,  courts  and  a  secondment  to  the  Youth  Offending  Service.  She  has  been  involved  in  training,  facilitating  domestic  abuse  programmes  and  chairing  multi-­‐agency  risk  meetings.  As  a  manager  she  has  worked  in  a  local  prison,  Leicester  courts  and  3  generic  teams.  For  the  last  9  years  she  has  been  the  SPOC  for  gender  and  women  offenders  for  the  service.  She  helped  set  up  the  Just  Women  Project  and  remains  involved  in  its  performance  management,  business  plans  and  she  is  the  line  manager  for  the  2  members  of  staff  co-­‐located  to  the  centre.  She  was  seconded  to  the  NOMS  Women’s  Team  for  2  years,  from  2010,  where  she  helped  co-­‐produce  the  national  guide  for  working  with  women  offenders  and  acted  as  a  support  and  information  point  for  Women’s  Community  Services  and  Trust  SPOC’s.    Sue  is  a  current  fellow  of  the  Griffins  Society.    

Christine  Leeson:  After  graduating  with  an  Applied  Biology  degree  and  briefly  working  in  research,  Chris  Leeson  spent  the  first  20  years  of  her  working  life  as  a  scriptwriter  and  director  of  film  and  television  documentaries.    It  was  whilst  working  as  an  independent  filmmaker  that  she  first  encountered  the  world  of  criminal  justice,  producing  two  documentaries  for  the  Home  Office  about  probation.    From  2001  until  2008  she  switched  careers  to  become  the  communications  manager  for  the  Probation  Boards’  Association,  the  national  employers  organization  for  the  probation  service.    During  her  time  there  her  work  focused  on  developing  the  relationship  between  probation  and  the  VCS,  probation  and  sentencers  and  public  understanding  of  criminal  justice.      Her  last  major  contribution  to  the  PBA  was  to  put  together  a  2-­‐day  international  conference  celebrating  the  Probation  Centenary.        Following  a  year  working  as  the  Interpretation  Manager  for  the  Tower  of  London  she  joined  the  Griffins  Society  and  is  currently  the  Society’s  Director.    

Dawn  McAleenan:    Dawn  McAleenan  has  over  ten  years  experience  of  working  in  the  voluntary  sector  providing  a  range  of  development,  information  and  consultancy  services  to  the  various  agencies  that  have  dealings  with  offenders  with  health  needs  across  the  criminal  justice,  health  and  social  care  sectors.      She  has  a  BA  Honors  and  Masters  of  Research  in  Criminology.  In  addition,  Dawn  has  a  range  of  experience  in  conducting  research  and  has  been  involved  in:  The  lived  experiences  of  Black  and  Minority  Ethnic  patients  at  Wathwood  Medium  Secure  Unit,  Mental  Health  Needs  Assessment  at  HMP  Wakefield  and  HMP/  YOI  New  Hall,  HMP  Wakefield  Substance  Misuse  Needs  Assessment  and  the  Review  of  the  Court  Diversion  and  Custody  Liaison  Services  in  the  East  Midlands.      Dawn  is  passionate  about  reducing  the  gap  of  social  exclusion  through  the  provision  of  effective  community  services  that  support  resettlement  and  empower  individuals  to  achieve  independence.  This  is  reflected  in  Dawns  current  role  where  she  manages  a  number  of  homeless  projects  across  the  North  West  of  England.  Dawn  was  a  fellow  of  the  Griffins  Society  in  2011-­‐12.  

  3    

     

                                                                                                 

 

Linda  Pizani  Williams:    Linda  qualified  as  a  probation  officer  in  1980  after  working  as  a  volunteer  with  the  service  since  1972.    She  worked  for  Kent  Probation  Service  in  a  variety  of  roles  until  2000,  including  2  years  in  Cookham  Wood  women’s  prison.    Her  last  6  years  with  the  service  were  spent  developing  the  European  dimension,  attracting  a  considerable  contribution  from  the  European  Social  Fund  to  support  the  employability  of  ex-­‐offenders  through  education,  training  and  vocational  qualifications.      She  worked  with  colleagues  from  across  Europe  to  share  ideas  and  good  practice  in  the  effective  resettlement  of  offenders  in  the  community.    From  2000  until  2008  she  worked  at  the  European  Institute  of  Social  Services  based  at  the  University  of  Kent,  developing  and  managing  various  transnational  projects  to  support  disadvantaged  and  marginalised  groups  and  promote  social  inclusion.    Since  2008,  Linda  has  worked  as  an  independent  consultant  with  colleagues  both  in  the  UK  and  across  Europe  on  a  wide  range  of  projects  as  project  manager,  transnational  coordinator  and  external  evaluator.    She  has  undertaken  research  in  diverse  subjects  from  preventing  radicalisation  of  prisoners  and  hate  crime  to  the  treatment  of  Gypsies  and  Travellers  in  the  criminal  justice  system.      Linda  is  also  an  external  expert  with  the  European  Commission,  Directorate  General  for  Justice,  evaluating  applications  for  funding  to  various  programmes.      Linda  is  a  trustee  of  the  Griffins  Society.  

 Sue  Rex:      Sue  is  on  secondment  to  the  Ministry  of  Justice  from  NOMS  (National  Offender  Management  Service),  working  on  the  commissioning  and  competition  strand  of  the  Rehabilitation  Programme.    She  has  a  policy  and  research  background,  including  a  PhD  from  the  Institute  of  Criminology,  Cambridge,  where  she  carried  out  research  and  teaching  on  community  penalties  as  an  ESRC  fellow.    Immediately  before  her  current  role,  she  managed  NOMS’  Offender  Engagement  Programme,  and  she  has  a  particular  interest  in  applying  learning  and  evidence  to  develop  operational  policy  and  practice.    Liz  Rijnenberg:  Liz  has  worked  in  the  Probation  Service  for  22  years  during  which  time  she  has  undertaken  a  number  of  roles.  Prior  to  this  she  worked  in  social  services  and  the  voluntary  sector  and  has  been  involved  in  the  development  of  women’s  services  for  most  of  her  career.  She  currently  leads  the  women’s  portfolio  on  behalf  of  the  Probation  Chief’s  Association.    In  2008  Liz  was  appointed  to  the  post  of  Acting  CE  of  Dyfed  Powys  Probation  Trust  that  was  one  of  the  first  wave  Probation  Areas  to  be  awarded  Trust  Status.    In  2010  she  took  up  post  as  Director  of  Operations  for  the  Wales  Probation  Trust.  Liz  joined  Wiltshire  Probation  Trust  in  2012  as  CEO  and  has  recently  been  appointed  as  CEO  designate  for  the  Wales  CRC.      Liz  was  educated  at  University  of  Nottingham  where  she  obtained  a  BA  (Hons)  in  Social  Policy  and  Administration,  and  subsequently  a  Masters  in  Social  Work.  She  completed  a  diploma  in  Probation  Service  Management  at  Birmingham  Edgbaston  and  a  MSt  in  Criminology  at  Fitzwilliam  College  Cambridge.    For  more  information  about  the  Griffins  Society  fellowship  programme,  please  e-­‐mail  the  

Director,  Chris  Leeson:  chris.leeson@the  griffinssociety.org            www.thegriffinssociety.org                                                            4