I have been engaged in research concerning criminal justice responses to rape for two decades. Much of this work has involved doctrinal and socio-legal analysis of adult male rape, rape sentencing, false allegations, the impact of attitudes on rape law enforcement and the policing and courtroom treatment of victims. My teaching examines law, research and policy issues relating to sexual offences and the criminal law. This includes rape within the criminal justice system, the policing and courtroom treatment of sexual offences, child abuse, cases involving the possession and distribution of indecent images of children, prostitution, sex offenders and sentencing. I have given talks before various bodies, including: the Judicial College, Royal Society of Medicine, law enforcement personnel, forensic medical examiners, prison staff, Victim Support, legal practitioners and members of the public.
My current empirical research examines the use of offender centric investigative techniques in rape cases and the idea of investigative complexity in the context of rape case attrition. I am the co-author of a bystander intervention project, The Intervention Initiative, led by Dr Rachel Fenton and funded by Public Health England. I also co-founded the Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society series.
My research interests extend to freedom of expression, self-censorship and academic freedom. I also write about the use of interrogational torture as a counter-terrorism measure and my monograph on the subject, Torturing Terrorists: Exploring the Limits of Law, Human Rights and Academic Freedom, was published by Routledge in November 2014. My research on terrorism includes work that examines the way in which interrogational torture can serve to undermine counter-terrorism strategies by provoking retaliation or hardening the resolve of terrorist groups and their supporters.