Dr Katie Hunter

Dr Katie Hunter

Dr Katie Hunter

Lecturer in Criminology and Co-Lead for L5

My profile

Biography

I am a Lecturer in Criminology and Co-lead for L5. My research focuses on processes of criminalisation, specifically on the relationship between experiences of state care and justice systems involvement. I am particularly interested in youth justice and racialised and gendered (in)justices. 

Recently, I completed an Administrative Data Research (ADR) UK Fellowship. My Fellowship research used linked Ministry of Justice and Department for Education data to explore the intersections between ethnicity, care experience and youth justice involvement. The project was partnered with Barnardo’s who completed a complementary qualitative project with Black care-experienced young people in prison, carried out by Listen Up. The partnership was based on knowledge exchange and a shared dissemination and engagement strategy. Findings from the Fellowship were widely reported in the media and have been cited in the House of Lords.  

Prior to joining MMU, I worked as Research Associate on the ‘Disrupting the Routes between Care and Custody’ project at Lancaster University. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the project utilised extensive interview data to explore routes into justice systems for care-experienced girls and women.

Before this, I completed ESRC-funded PhD research at University of Liverpool. My PhD project focused on the disproportionate representation of Black and minoritised children and looked after children in the youth justice system in England and Wales. My doctorate was awarded in June 2019.

Get in touch

GM 319 Geoffrey Manton Building

Teaching

Currently, I co-lead Creative Research Methods (L5). I also teach on teach on Crime, Deviance and Control (Level 5) and Criminology in Practice (Level 4).

I am open to supervising PhD projects so please get in touch. 

Research outputs

Fitzpatrick, C., Hunter, K., Shaw, J. & Staines, J. (2024) Confronting intergenerational harm: Care experience, motherhood and criminal justice involvement, The British Journal of Criminology,  64(2):257-274. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azad028

Shaw, J., Staines, J., Fitzpatrick, C. & Hunter, K. (2024). The exploitation of girls in care: An ongoing struggle for recognition, Child Abuse Review, 33(3): e2886. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2886

Staines, J., Fitzpatrick, C., Shaw, J. & Hunter, K. (2024). ‘We Need to Tackle Their Well Being First’: Understanding and Supporting Care-Experienced Girls in the Youth Justice System. Youth Justice, 24(2), 185-203. https://doi.org/10.1177/14732254231191977

Staines, J., Shaw, J., Hunter, K. & Fitzpatrick, C. (2024) Supporting girls in care to desist from offending behaviour. In: Desistance and Children. Bristol : Bristol University Press. 

Hunter, K., Francis, B. & Fitzpatrick C. (2023) Care Experience, Ethnicity and Youth Justice Involvement: Key Trends and Policy Implications. Available at: https://www.adruk.org/fileadmin/uploads/adruk/Documents/Policy_Briefings/Policy-briefing-Katie-Hunter.pdf 

Hunter, K., Fitzpatrick, C., Staines, J., & Shaw, J. (2023). A Difficult Balance: Challenges and Possibilities for Local Protocols to Reduce Unnecessary Criminalisation of Children in Care and Care Leavers. Youth Justice, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14732254231154153

Hunter, K. (2022) Data Explained. Available at: https://www.adruk.org/fileadmin/uploads/adruk/Documents/Data_Explained/Data-Explained-MoJ-DfE-Katie-Hunter.pdf

Hunter, K. (2022) ‘Out of place’: The criminalisation of Black and minority ethnic looked after children in England and Wales. Prison Service Journal. No. 258. Available at: https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/PSJ%20258%20January%202022.pdf 

Hunter, K. (2022) ‘Exploring ethnicity, care experience and justice systems involvement’, 12 April 2022. ADR UK [online]. Available at: https://www.adruk.org/news-publications/news-blogs/exploring-ethnicity-care-experience-and-justice-systems-involvement/ 

Fitzpatrick, C., Staines, J. & Hunter, K. (2022) Care-experienced women in the criminal justice system. In: Masson, I. and Booth, N. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Women’s Experiences of Criminal Justice, Oxfordshire: Routledge. 

Fitzpatrick, C., Hunter, K., Shaw, J. & Staines, J. (2022) Painful lives: understanding self-harm amongst care-experienced women in prison. Criminology & Criminal Justice. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17488958211067914 

Fitzpatrick, C., Hunter, K., Shaw, J. & Staines, J. (2022) Final Report: Disrupting the Routes between Care and Custody for Girls and Women. Available at:  https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/care-custody/resources/  

Fitzpatrick, C., Hunter, K., Shaw, J. & Staines, J. (2019) Exploring the Pathways between Care and Custody for Girls and Women: A Literature Review. Available at:  http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/care-custody/files/2019/10/CareCustodyLiteratureReview.pdf

Career history

January 2022 to December 2022

ADR UK Research Fellow, Lancaster University

April 2019 to December 2021

Research Associate, Lancaster University

January 2018 to March 2019

Lecturer in Criminology, University of Chester