Dr Lucy Baldwin has been a Senior lecturer in Criminology based in the Community & Criminal Justice Division, located within the Health and Life Sciences faculty of De Montfort University since 2004 . Lucy is a qualified social worker and probation officer and has professional practice experience from a wide range of community and custodial settings.
Lucy has provided oral and written evidence to several parliamentary inqiries and her research and research activism has influenced policy and practice nationally and internationally within the criminal justice system. Lucy's edited collection 'Mothering Justice;Working with Mothers in Criminal and Social Justice Settings' was the first whole book in the UK to have taken motherhood and criminal justice as its sole focus. Her Doctoral Research, is the largest study on maternal imprisonment in the UK.
Her recent and forthcoming publications include work exploring the relationship between prison space and maternal emotion, grandmothers in custody and as carers for children with a mother in prison, the imact and harm of short prison sentences on mothers and their children. the impact of prison on maternal identity and role, and the need for long term emotional support for post custodial mothers and their families.
Lucy has worked with partners in the public, private and charitable sectors, to improve outcomes for criminalised mothers and has developed evidence-based programs for mothers in custody and the community. She has also developed and delivered staff training related to work with mothers in the CJS, and has provided toolkits for staff to use in that work. She is regularly engaged in partnerships and consultation related to maternal imprisonment.
Lucy co-convened and co leads the Women, Family Crime and Justice Research Network, which has produced successful two edited collections and will go on produce more as the network continues.
Lucy is also a trustee and an external examiner, and a regular reviewer for respected journals and a passionate campainger for reform.