DIRECTOR
Professor Janet Ransley
Research expertise includes:
- Police administration, procedures and practice
- Causes and prevention of crime
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
Associate Professor Danielle Reynald
Research expertise includes:
- Violence and crime prevention
- Criminal psychology and guardianship
Our members
Jeffrey Ackerman’s research interests include crime and deviance, quantitative methods and social psychology.
Troy Allard's research areas and interests include: Causes and prevention of offending; Race and crime; Evaluation (Impact and Economic).
Associate Professor Martin Andresen
Associate Professor Martin A. Andresen. Martin Andresen is an internationally recognised researcher in the area of spatial-temporal criminology. His research areas are in spatial crime analysis, temporal crime analysis, crime and place, geography of crime, and applied spatial statistics and geographical information analysis.
Mr David Barlett
David Bartlett's main research areas focus on corporate criminology, exploring corporations as offenders and victims, governance, compliance, risk and regulation. He also has a broad research interest in the areas of policing, courts and program evaluation.
Lyndel Bates conducts research in the areas of criminology and health. She is currently looking at using criminological theory to improve young driver compliance with the law and the impacts of violence related brain injuries.
Kirsten Besemer's research examines through what mechanisms incarceration may impact on families, in order to identify ways to avoid harm to affected children.
Robyn Blewer's research area is the criminal trial process, particularly as it impacts upon vulnerable people. Current research projects include the cross-examination of children and wrongful convictions.
Jennifer Boddy’s research focuses on three key areas: climate change, domestic and family violence, and social work practice. She is an internationally recognised researcher in the field of environmental social work, an area of work which seeks to address climate change and its impacts.
Christine Bond's research expertise is in sentencing and discretion in criminal justice, social inequality and justice (Indigeneity, race/ethnicity, gender), youth and police and research methods.
Sara Branch is a Senior Research Fellow within the Griffith Criminology Institute at Griffith University. She has a background in Organisational Psychology and an interest in Workplace Conflict (in particular Workplace Bullying) and Change Management with a broad interest in Social Justice. Her recent work has focused on applying organisational theory to enhance processes for collaboration.
Associate Professor Jesse Cale
Jesse Cale is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. His main areas of research include the causes and consequences of sexual offending, developmental and life-course criminology, victimisation and victimology, and crime prevention and criminal justice policy.
Associate Professor Nadine Connell
Nadine Connell is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice. Her research focuses on juvenile delinquency, specifically in the domain of school safety. Her work examines the aetiology of school based violence victimization and perpetration as well as more extreme forms of youth violence, including weapon carrying, school shootings, and targeted violence. She works with schools and communities to implement and evaluate prevention and intervention strategies, with a particular interest in evidence based strategies for school safety.
Kathleen Daly's research is in three areas of victimisation and justice: redress for institutional abuse of children in international context, state-funded schemes for violent crime victims, and conventional and innovative justice responses to sexual and violent victimisation.
Juliet Davis is a Research Fellow in the Griffith Criminology Institute. Her current research centres on developments in redress for institutional abuse, both in Australia and internationally. Her socio-legal research builds upon her professional experience as a legal practitioner.
Susan Dennison is a Professor and Deputy Head of School (Research) in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University as well as Deputy Director of the Griffith Criminology Institute. She is broadly interested in the intergenerational transmission of offending and social disadvantage and the contexts affecting children’s developmental systems and life outcomes. Much of her research focuses on examining the immediate and longer-term impact of parental incarceration on the development and wellbeing of parents in prison, their children, and caregivers.
Grant Devilly's research interests lie predominantly within the anxiety disorders and specifically with the aetiology, prevention and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Grant also researches the effects of violent media (particularly violent video games) within the community, the detection of lying in forensic settings, the prevalence and type of pseudoscience in various settings, trauma and memory, the prevention of postnatal disorders, the treatment of adolescent sex offenders, reactions and approaches following crime victimisation, and increasing officer safety during training and whilst policing licensed premises.
Rachel Dioso-Villa is a Senior Lecture in criminology, law and society in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. She studies wrongful convictions in Australia and the sociology of forensic science and its application in the criminal justice system.
Associate Professor Molly Dragiewicz
Molly Dragiewicz is an internationally award-winning criminologist whose research focuses on violence and gender. She is currently conducting research on the role of technology in domestic violence. She won the 2019 Saltzman Award for Contributions to Practice from the American Society of Criminology Division on Women and Crime; the 2018 Domestic Violence Prevention Leadership Award from the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre Gold Coast; the 2017 Robert Jerin Book of the Year Award for Abusive endings: Separation and divorce violence against women from the American Society of Criminology Division on Victimology.
Jacqueline Drew is a Senior Lecturer and Program Director of the Criminology and Information Technology double degree program. Dr Drew is a psychologist, with expertise in police personnel and systems (police leadership, promotion systems, women in policing, employee well-being and law enforcement suicide prevention), cyber fraud and white collar crime.
Li Eriksson's research interests include violence, intimate partner homicide, filicide and criminological theory. Prior to joining Griffith University, Li worked as a Research Analyst for the Swedish National Council of Crime Prevention.
Benjamin Evans
Ben Evans began working with Griffith Youth Forensic Service as a collaborative partner in 2010, and became a GYFS clinician in January 2013. Prior to working with GYFS, Ben worked in the child protection field for five years. He is a registered Psychologist who provides clinical assessment and treatment services to young people in the greater Brisbane, central and north Queensland regions. He has experience working with families and youth presenting with a range of complex issues and has particular interest in working with young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Associate Professor Jacqueline Ewart
Jacqui Ewart’s research focuses on three key areas: News media coverage of cultural and religious diversity; communication and disasters; and radio audiences.
Mark Finnane has published widely on the history of policing, crime, the criminal law, punishment and the social history of mental illness. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities (elected 2001), and of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2013). As ARC Laureate Fellow, he directs the Prosecution Project.
Kate Freiberg is a Principal Research Fellow with a background in developmental psychology whose research focuses on the use of child-centred approaches in the measurement of children’s wellbeing. As a member of the ARC funded Creating Pathways to Child Wellbeing research team, her work revolves around the development of support models and resources to promote effective prevention delivery systems, and the implementation of collectively organised prevention initiatives in community settings.
Katie Hail-Jares' research focuses on the intersection between public health and criminology; particularly she is interested in how criminalising behaviour can impact health outcomes for vulnerable populations, including sex workers, people who use drugs, and young people. The main portion of her postdoc research is a large-scale data linkage that involves coordination between Youth Justice, Queensland Corrective Services, and National Coronial Information Services. She is also working with Respect, Inc to develop two projects related to sex work, discrimination, and decriminalisation in Queensland.
Keiran Hardy is currently undertaking a 2-year research project examining global approaches to countering violent extremism. His research focuses on counter-terrorism law and policy, countering violent extremism, cyber-terrorism, counter-insurgency and intelligence whistleblowing.
Associate Professor Paul Harnett
Danielle Harris is the Deputy Director of the Griffith Youth Forensic Service. Her research examines sexual aggression through a life course perspective, examining onset, specialization/versatility, desistance, and related public policy.
Hennessey Hayes is a leading scholar in the areas of restorative justice and youth justice. His research focuses on the ways that restorative justice interventions can effect positive change in the lives of young offenders and victims of crime.
Tarah Hodgkinson research agenda focuses on community safety and crime prevention. Within that she examines the role of the police in the 21st century, community safety partnerships and collaboration, spatial criminology and crime prevention strategies and evaluation. She uses a number of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in her work, including action research and spatial analysis.
Robyn Holder's work examines explores the relationship between victims of crime and the state, and the mediating effect of rights. Current projects include an examination of third party advocacy structures in international and domestic criminal justice systems, and innovative justice and service responses to violence against women. She also has a project examining the accountabilities of public prosecution.
Jacqueline Homel's research interests include child development, longitudinal studies, adolescent mental health, family and social development.
Ross Homel's research focuses on the prevention of crime, violence, and related social problems through sustainable system transformations that lead to data-driven, evidence-based preventive practices. His guiding philosophy is that the future lies NOT in more and better programs (although these comprise the building blocks of change) because bad systems trump good programs every time. Rather, the goal of all prevention research should be on system transformation within which evidence-based practices can be embedded.
Samantha Jeffries’s research areas of interest include women’s crime and criminal justice issues, masculinities, crime and criminal justice, criminal court practices and decision making and sex industry.
Susanne Karstedt's research interests include transitional justice, atrocity crimes, law and society, comparative perspectives and violence.
Mark Kebbell is Professor of Forensic Psychology and a Registered Psychologist. His research is concerns the effective investigation and prosecution of serious crime and the identification of high-risk offenders.
Associate Professor Benoit Leclerc
Benoit Leclerc's research interests include crime script analysis, environmental criminology, quantitative analysis, research methods and sexual offending.
Krystal Lockwood is a Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti woman who grew up in Armidale, NSW. She is a lecturer in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University. She is interested in the way evidence is used in the criminal justice system, particularly in the way evidence can impact, influence, or hinder steps to achieving social justice. Her research addresses the over-representation of First Peoples in the criminal justice system.
Natasha Madon's research primarily focuses on the policing of minority communities, procedural justice, and young people's perceptions of their treatment by criminal justice actors.
Elena Marchetti is a Professor of Law, Griffith Law School specialising in Indigenous justice issues and domestic and family violence. She is the author of a number of books, articles, chapters and reports in the areas of Indigenous sentencing courts, culturally appropriate prison programs, better ways to evaluate Indigenous-focused criminal justice programs and intersectional race and gender analyses of legal processes.
Associate Professor Tara McGee
Tara McGee's research focuses on the development of offending over the life-course as well as developmental crime prevention. More information about her projects and research can be found on her Griffith experts page.
Kristina Murphy is a Professor of Criminology and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Her current research projects explore the importance of procedural justice in the context of policing immigrant, ethnic minority and Muslim communities in Australia; specifically, how procedural justice policing can improve police-community relations.
Patrick O’Leary is an internationally recognised researcher with significant expertise in child protection, child protection in social development and humanitarian contexts, social work, domestic violence/gender-based violence, long-term impact of child sexual abuse (especially in men), and socially excluded young people. His work has influenced international domestic violence and child protection policy and practice. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow with UNICEF’s Office for Research and the lead chief investigator into sexual assault of males in the Australian Defence Forces.
Associate Professor Louise Porter
Louise Porter is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice. Her research applies social psychological and criminological perspectives to behaviour in policing and offending contexts. Her current policing research focuses on police misconduct and police use of force.
Martine Powell is Founding Director of the Centre for Investigative Interviewing. She and her team work alongside a wide a range of industry partners (in law enforcement, health, education and media) to improve the way they elicit information from people to facilitate decision-making.
Janet Ransley is Director of the Griffith Criminology Institute. She researches on policing, crime reduction, and criminal justice policy, with a special interest in translating research to improve policy and practice outcomes.
Associate Professor Justin Ready
Justin Ready has worked in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University as a Senior Lecturer since 2016. He received his PhD at Rutgers University, where he served as Project Director in the Centre for Crime Prevention Studies. Recently, he has studied the effects of active shooter incidents on officer memory/cognition, and the impact of body work video and GPS technology on police management and operations.
Associate Professor Danielle Reynald
Danielle Reynald's research interests include violence prevention, criminal psychology, crime prevention and guardianship.
Associate Professor John Rynne
John Rynne is Director of the Griffith Youth Forensic Service. John is a psychologist with over 25 years clinical experience in the criminal justice system working with young people and adults. He has extensive experience working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in discrete communities and larger cities.
Elise Sargeants current research focuses on perceptions of police and policing. Specifically, I consider the factors that shape citizens attitudes to police and police perceptions of themselves. My prior work has involved evaluations of police strategies as well as the impact of neighborhood effects on a range of outcomes.
Lacey Schaefer is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University. She holds research expertise in criminological theory and correctional ideologies and interventions. Dr Schaefer has experience in designing correctional interventions, providing training for correctional agencies, and developing and administering offender rehabilitation programs.
Clifford Shearing's principal focus of academic work has been on broadening criminology’s boundaries, with a primary focus on ‘security governance’. His policy and applied work has been concerned with enhancing safety and reducing safety related inequalities. His research and writing has become increasingly centred on criminology’s response to the challenges of the Anthropocene.
Dr Danielle Shumack
Danielle Shumack is a forensic and clinical psychologist and Griffith Youth Forensic Service senior clinician. Danielle is published in the area of collaborative partnerships in the provision of services for adolescent sexual offenders and has research interests in the management of youth assessed as a high risk of sexual offence recidivism.
Catrin Smith's research interests include qualitative analysis, health inequality, prisons, drug use and health promotion.
Anna Stewart's research examines whole of system and whole of life experiences with child protection, youth justice, adult criminal justice, domestic violence and mental health.
Carleen Thompson's research interests include violence prevention, domestic violence, aggression and criminal psychology.
Clare Tilbury is the Leneen Forde Chair of Child and Family Research. Her work focuses on child protection system outcomes and performance measurement, and racial disparities in child welfare. She is a leading social work scholar, using mixed methods and interdisciplinary approaches to engage research partners in a collaborative process of understanding policy problems and their possible solutions.
Associate Professor Michael Townsley
Michael Townsley’s research expertise is in spatial and temporal patterns of crime, offender mobility, crime analysis and crime mapping and situational crime prevention.
Sue Trevaskes is undertaking research on Chinese criminal justice, governance and law. Her research focus ranges from rule of law and legal ideology to the death penalty in China.
Stacy Tzoumakis’s research focuses on understanding the development of aggression and antisocial behaviour over the life-course. Other research interests include: gender and crime, young people and the criminal justice system, child maltreatment, family violence, and developmental crime prevention.
Kerry Wimshurst research interests are in criminal justice education, and particularly in the application of threshold concepts to the disciplines of criminology and criminal justice. My second area is criminal justice history and especially the concept of neglected children in the late-nineteenth century as it related to Industrial and Reformatory Schools.
William Wood's research interests include corrections, restorative justice, social and criminological theory and youth justice.
Adjunct Members
- Professor Geoff Alpert
- Professor Joyce Arditti
- Professor Catrien Bijleveld
- Dr Daniel Birks
- Professor Lisa Broidy
- Ray Brownhill
- Sonja Brubacher
- Associate Professor Melissa Bull
- Brian Bumbarger
- Dr Michael Chataway
- Dr Winnie Chiu
- Professor Myrna Dawson
- Professor Geoff Dean
- Becky Earhart
- Prof Marleen Easton
- Professor Henk Elffers
- Professor Abigail Fagan
- The Honourable Tony Fitzgerald AC, QC
- Associate Professor James Freeman
- Dr Timothy Hart
- Dr Robyn Holder
- Dr Emily Hurren Paterson
- Dr Md Jahirul Islam
- Dr Tamera Jenkins
- Prof Stuart Kinner
- Dr Kerry King
- Dr Chelsea Leach
- Dr Simon Little
- Dr Abby McLeod
- Dr Tariro Mutongwizo
- Dr Heather Nancarrow
- Dr Kathleen O'Donnell
- Prof Alex Piquero
- Prof Tim Prenzler
- Dr Mark Rallings
- Dr Sheryl Ramsay
- Dr Vicki Saunders
- Dr Emily Schindeler
- Dr Aaron Sell
- Dr Robyn Seth-Purdie
- Dr Kathryn Seymour
- Professor Stephen Smallbone
- Professor Philip Stenning
- Professor Faye Taxman
- Dr Steve Van De Weijer
- Professor Richard Wortley