糖心TV

Profile

Emily is Assistant Professor of Criminology and joined the University of 糖心TV in early 2023, having held posts at the Universities of Edinburgh, Oxford, Keele, Sheffield, and Derby. Her background is in British social policy, and she has a special interest in the intersection of politics, crime and justice. Emily is on the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Criminology, an academic advisor on the Youth Justice Board Network, and a member of The European Society of Criminology, The Royal Statistical Society, and the British Society of Criminology.

Research

Much of Emily鈥檚 research focuses on the relationship between crime, politics, and inequality. Specifically, how long-term macro processes (such as political socialisation) affect these dynamics. Her work has examined how New Right socio-economic polices under Margaret Thatcher impacted the life-courses of those who grew up during this period in the UK, with respect to crime and criminalisation.

She has recently commenced a new ESRC-funded study (as PI) in association with colleagues at the Universities of Nottingham (Professor Stephen Farrall) and Nottingham Trent (Professor Andromachi Tseloni). This study will examine homicide trends in England and Wales over the last four decades, disaggregating homicide subtypes and using several datasets including the Home Office鈥檚 Homicide Index and the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Previous research conducted by Emily comprises youth justice under New Labour (with the ESRC and the Youth Justice Board); persistent youth offending (the Youth Justice Board); fear of crime (ESRC) and restorative policing (College of Policing).

Emily is a mixed-methods researcher, with expertise in quantitative and qualitative longitudinal analysis, secondary data analysis, time-series modelling, survey development and in-depth narrative analysis.

Teaching

In 2023/24 Emily is convening SO350 - Punishment Justice and Control (with Dr. Shona Robinson-Edwards) and SO130 Introduction to Social Analytics in Social Inequalities Research (with Dr. Richard Lampard)

Completed PhD Students

Robyn Fawcett 2023 with Professor Alex Nunn (on a University of Derby Studentship Award) 2023: 鈥淯nderstanding families lived experiences of Universal Credit鈥�.

Victoria Barrett 2020 with Professor Stephen Farrall (on a University of Sheffield Studentship Award): 鈥淎ssessing the relevance of political attitudes towards 鈥榬ulebreakers鈥� in the criminal justice system, the welfare system and the education system in British society today鈥�.

Recent publications

Farrall, S. and Gray, E. (2024) The politics of crime, punishment and justice: Exploring the lived reality and enduring legacies of the 1980s radical right. Routledge. Available on Open Access

Barratt, V., Gray, E and Farrall, S. (2023) Politics, Punitive Attitudes and Problematic Populations - Public Perceptions of 'Scroungers', 'Unruly Children鈥�, and 鈥楪ood for Nothings鈥�. Palgrave Macmillan.  

Gray, E., Farrall, S. and Jones, P. (2022) 鈥楾he long arm of welfare retrenchment: how New Right socio-economic policies in the 1980s affected contact with the criminal justice system in adulthood鈥�. British Journal of Criminology.

Farrall, S., Gray, E. and Jones, P.M. (2022) 鈥楲ife-Courses, Social Change and Politics: Evidence for the Role of Politically-Motivated Structural-level Influences on Individual Criminal Careers鈥�. Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Jones P.M., Gray, E., and Farrall, S (2022). 鈥楾he spatial and temporal development of British prisons from 1901 to the present: The role of de-industrialisation鈥�. European Journal of Criminology.

Dodsley, T., and Gray, E. (2021) 鈥楻esistance and reproduction: an arts-based investigation into young people鈥檚 emotional responses to crime; British Journal of Criminology,

Farrall, S., Gray, E., Jones, P.M., and Hay, C. (2021). 'Losing the discursive battle but winning the ideological war: who holds Thatcherite values now?' Political Studies,

Farrall, S., Gray, E., Nunn, A., & Tepe, D. (2021). 'Global Pressures, Household Social Reproduction Strategies and Compound Inequality'. New Political Economy:

Farrall, S., Gray, E. and Jones, P (2020) 鈥楶olitics, Social and Economic Change and Crime: Exploring the Impact of Contextual Effects on Offending Trajectories鈥�, Politics and Society, Special Issue 鈥楽ocieties Under Stress鈥�,

Farrall, S., Gray, E. and P. M. Jones (2020) 鈥楾he Role of Radical Economic Restructuring in Truancy from School and Engagement in Crime鈥�, British Journal of Criminology,.

Gray, E., Grasso, M., Farrall, S., Jennings, W. and Hay, C. (2019) 鈥楶olitical Socialization, Worry about Crime and Antisocial Behaviour: An Analysis of Age, Period and Cohort Effects鈥�, British Journal of Criminology,

Media

Twitter: @Thatcher_legacy

Emily has been involved in co-producing two short films on the impact of Thatcherism on crime and inequalities, one of which is intended as a learning resource for A-level and undergraduate students. Both outputs are available on and their promotion has been supported by the Political Studies Association and The British Sociological Association.

Email: Emily.Gray@warwick.ac.uk