Professor Helen Johnston

Professor Helen Johnston

Professor of Criminology

+44 (0)1482 465634 | H.Johnston@hull.ac.uk

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Arts Cultures and Education
  • School of Criminology, Sociology and Policing

Related groups

  • Criminology

Summary

Helen Johnston is an expert in the history of crime and punishment from 1750. She is the first female Professor of Criminology at the University of Hull. She has undertaken extensive research on local prisons, convict prisons and licensing/early release mechanisms.

She has researched the experiences of both prisoners and staff and the evolution of prison architecture.

She is also interested in crime and criminal justice heritage and the preservation, presentation and dissemination of crime heritage in museums, archives and heritage sites.

She has been Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on a range of funded research projects supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust.

Histories of Punishment; Punishment, Dangerousness and Risk; Contemporary Imprisonment.

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Book

Penal Servitude: Convicts and long-term imprisonment, 1853-1948

Johnston, H., Godfrey, B., & Cox, D. J. (2022). Penal Servitude: Convicts and long-term imprisonment, 1853-1948. McGill-Queen's University Press

Book Chapter

Punishment in Britain in the Twentieth Century

Johnston, H. (2023). Punishment in Britain in the Twentieth Century. In P. Lawrence (Ed.), A Global History of Crime and Punishment in the Modern Age: Volume 6 (145-164). Bloomsbury Publishing

Journal Article

The Long-Term Imprisonment of Women: Penal servitude and release of female offenders serving long sentences, 1853-1900

Johnston, H. (online). The Long-Term Imprisonment of Women: Penal servitude and release of female offenders serving long sentences, 1853-1900. Criminology & criminal Justice, https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958241298502

Prisoner Health and Well-Being in Historical Perspective, 1850-1900: Exploring Experiences of Illness and Disability in the Victorian Convict System

Turner, J., & Johnston, H. (online). Prisoner Health and Well-Being in Historical Perspective, 1850-1900: Exploring Experiences of Illness and Disability in the Victorian Convict System. Journal of Criminal Law, https://doi.org/10.1177/00220183241278094

Corrupting and saving: Moral contamination, prison education and prison history

Johnston, H. (2021). Corrupting and saving: Moral contamination, prison education and prison history. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 60(S1), 109-118. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12434

Research interests

Histories of crime and punishment, particularly prisons and imprisonment and other custodial settings. Interested in people's experiences of and interactions with the criminal justice system. I have researched short-term and long-term imprisonment as well as early release and licensing mechanisms and prison architecture. Currently exploring the impact of the Second World War on the prison system and researching the criminal justice and penal outcomes for girls and young women in the twentieth century.

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

English Prisons at War: Imprisonment during national crisis

Funder

The Leverhulme Trust

Grant

£54,416.00

Started

1 September 2019

Status

Complete

Project

Our Criminal Past: Our Criminal Ancestors

Funder

AHRC Arts & Humanities Research Council

Grant

£62,219.00

Started

11 May 2017

Status

Complete

Project

'Invalids', Disability and the Modern Prison

Funder

British Academy

Grant

£5,193.00

Started

1 May 2018

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

I welcome applications in the fields of punishment, penal policy and contemporary imprisonment as well as studies on the history of crime, policing and punishment.

Completed PhDs:

Maria De Angelis (2012), Trafficking and Prostitution: Victimhood and Agency (with Dr Majella Kilkey)

Samson Chan (2013), Colonial Penality: A Case Study of Hong Kong Penal Policy, 1945-1997 (with Professor Peter Young)

William Davies (2015), The Pains of Imprisonment and Resettlement for Short Term Prisoners (with Professor Peter Young)

Helen Nichols (2016), Adult Male Prisoners Experiences of Education (with Professor Gerry Johnstone)

Rachel Dixon-Goodall (2017) Expert Evidence in Cases of Infanticide, 1688-1955 (with Tony Ward).

Alicia Kidd (2018) The Dynamics of Contemporary Slavery and Conflict: Agency, Asylum and Accountability (with Simon Green).

Marion Wilson (2019) Grief and Bereavement in Prison (with Prof Liz Walker).

Rhiannon Pickin (2019) Emotions, Perceptions and Responses to Crime and Penal Heritage (AHRC Heritage Consortium with Leeds Beckett University, with Heather Shore).

Lucie Wade (2021)_Juvenile Crime, Punishment and Reform in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1856-1914 (AHRC Heritage Consortium with Leeds Beckett University with Simon Morgan).

Julie Brumby (2023) Reformatory and Industrial School Training Ships (NECAH with Leeds Beckett University).

Ndiweteko (Jen) Nghishitende (2024) ‘Freedom is a constant struggle’: Women’s lives after Modern Slavery, Wilberforce Institute (with Dr Alicia Heys).

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