Mr Ross Little

Ross leads a module on the Criminology and Criminal Justice programme focussing on Young People and the Criminal Justice System. He also leads our Learning in Prison and Probation Network, part of the Research Institute for Criminology Community Education and Social Justice. Ross has designed courses with prison to bring together students in prison and students at De Montfort University for shared higher education study experiences. He is undertaking his PhD by concurrent publications to further understanding about pedagogy and prison education.

He is committed to understanding how the criminal justice system works from the perspective of people involved in it, including children and younger people. He is Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees for The National Association for Youth Justice.

Prior to life as a lecturer, Ross developed considerable experience working in a wide range of roles across academic criminological research (University of Leicester), research consultancy (Ecorys) youth work policy and practice (National Youth Agency) and as part of a national youth justice participation project at The Howard League for Penal Reform.

Institute for Research in Criminology Community Education and Social Justice 

British Society of Criminology - Prison Research Network

Little, R., & Warr, J. (2022). Abstraction, belonging and comfort in the prison classroom. Incarceration, 3(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663221142759

Little, R. (2020) Paying the Price: Consequences for Children's Education in Prison in a Market Society. International Journal of Educational Development, Vol.77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102212

Solitary Confinement of Children in Prison (2020) The National Association for Youth Justice, 7 May 2020 https://thenayj.org.uk/news/ 

Little, R. (2018) ‘Where are we going?’ Context and directions for policy and practice in children’s education in secure accommodation in Gallard, D. et al (eds), ch.18, Children and their education in secure accommodation. Abingdon: Routledge.

'Congratulations, you're ten! Now you can be arrested', The Conversation, 1 November 2018

Little, R. (2015) 'Putting education at the heart of custody? The views of children on education in a young offender institution', British Journal of Community Justice, 13(2), 27-46. http://www.cjp.org.uk/bjcj/volume-13-issue-2/

Little, R. (2015) ‘Participation and Practice in Youth Justice’, Eurovista (3) 3

Little, R. (2014) ‘Participation and practice: youth justice’, ECAN Bulletin, London: The Howard League for Penal Reform.

Little, R and Creaney, S. (2014) Participation and youth justice, paper given at Transforming youth justice?, hosted by DMU and the NAYJ (2014)

Little, R. (2014) Universities of Crime, paper given at Re-imagining youth justice conference, hosted by The Howard League for Penal Reform (2014)

Getting closer to justice (2013) – a presentation with young advisors working with the U R Boss project at The Howard League for Penal Reform, What is Justice?, Oxford: Keble College.

‘Education in youth custody: what do young people say?’ (2012) Blog post for The British Council website. 

 ‘Education in HMYOI Warren Hill’ (2012) Report for The Howard League for Penal Reform

Little, R. (2020) Paying the Price: Consequences for Children's Education in Prison in a Market Society. International Journal of Educational Development, Vol.77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102212

Little, R. (2018) ‘Where are we going?’ Context and directions for policy and practice in children’s education in secure accommodation in Gallard, D. et al (eds), ch.18, Children and their education in secure accommodation. Abingdon: Routledge.

Little, R. (2015) 'Putting education at the heart of custody? The views of children on education in a young offender institution', British Journal of Community Justice, 13(2), 27-46. http://www.cjp.org.uk/bjcj/volume-13-issue-2/

Little, R. (2015) ‘Participation and Practice in Youth Justice’, Eurovista (3) 3

The perspectives of people in prison on education and learning.

Children's education in prison contexts.

How we respond to people who break the law in our society, particularly children and how they can be re-settled into communities following a period in custody.

The development of youth justice system, particularly with regard to participatory practice.

Creating learning spaces in prison.

Module leader: Young people and the criminal justice system

Module leader: Introduction to Criminology; Critical Criminology

Module contributor: Punishment and Society

Module contributor: Introduction to Law and Policy (for Social Work students)

Module contributor: Adult Learners and Lifelong Learning (for Education Studies students)

PGCertHE, De Montfort University (2015)

MA Criminology, Univeristy of Leicester (1999)

BSc Psychology, University of Sheffield (1998)

Young people and the criminal justice system

Learning Together (HMP Leicester, HMP Gartree)

Introduction to Criminology (module leader, undergraduate)

Punishment and Society

Youth justice

Awarded Senior Fellowship of Advance HE, formerly the Higher Education Academy (December 2019). 

Ross was part of the DMU Local team nominated in 2018 for the Guardian University Award for social and community impact and the Times Higher Award 2018 for outstanding contribution to the local community.

Member of Inner Board at the British Journal of Community Justice

The Howard League for Penal Reform (start: 2002, ongoing)
A national charity working for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison. They campaign on a wide range of issues including short term prison sentences, real work in prison, children in prison and community sentences.  

The National Association for Youth Justice (NAYJ) campaigns for the rights of and justice for children and young people in trouble with the law.  

PGCertHE

SFHEA (Advance HE)

Distance Learning in Welsh Prisons - evaluation for the Prisoners Education Trust

STREAM project

Desistance in the context of youth justice (NAYJ, 2021)

The State of Youth Justice 2020 (NAYJ, 2020)

British Society of Criminology Conferences (2015, 2017, 2019)

Youth Justice Board Convention (2018) Birmingham

European Prison Education Association (EPEA) conference, Vienna, 2017

Child Friendly Youth Justice? (NAYJ, SCYJ, CCGSJ), University of Cambridge, 2017

Prisoner Education Trust Conference, Institute of Criminology, Cambridge (2015)

Transforming youth justice?, hosted by DMU and the NAYJ (2014)

• Presented workshop on participation in youth justice

Re-imagining youth justice, hosted by The Howard League for Penal Reform (2014)

• Presented paper on Universities of Crime

British Society of Criminology Conference, Liverpool (2014)

Little, R. (2020) ‘Paying the price: consequences for children’s education in prison in a market society’, International Journal for Educational Development Vol.77, September 2020, 102212.

Little, R. (2020) Solitary Confinement (children in prison), The National Association for Youth Justice, May 2020 https://thenayj.org.uk/news/)

Case, S., Creaney, S., Coleman, N., Haines, K., Little, R., & Worrall, V. (2020). “Trusting children to enhance youth justice policy: The importance and value of children’s voices”. Youth Voice Journal, ISBN:978-1-911634-23-2

 Little, R. (2018) Congratulations You’re 10, Now You Can Be Arrested, The Conversation, December 2018. https://theconversation.com/congratulations-youre-ten-now-you-can-be-arrested-106115

 Little, R. (2018) Where are we going? ‘Context and directions for policy and practice in children’s education and learning in prison’. In: Evans, K., Gallard, D. and Millington, J. (eds) Children and their education in secure accommodation. Abingdon: Routledge.

 Little, R. (2018) Children's views of education in a Young Offenders Institution. In: Evans, K., Gallard, D. and Millington, J. (eds.) Children and their education in secure accommodation. Abingdon: Routledge.

I worked with Learning and Work Institute 2016-19 on the 'Improving Language, Improving Lives 'project, enhancing screening and curriculum for people with ESOL needs in the prison system. The work also worked with ESOL tutors to improve the way they're able to work with people in prison.

I worked with staff at HMP Gartree to develop an eight-week course for university students to learn alongside prison students. 

Worked on the STREAM project, funded by the European Union, creating the structure and content for the evaluation guidance.

 Successfully applied for a Teacher Fellow Funding Application to develop a prison education course with HMP Gartree.

PGCertHE (2015)

Senior Fellowship (Advance HE, 2019)