On Stanley Johnson’s nomination; Boris as a child survivor; and the role of charity ambassadors
This morning I have been reading Catherine Bennett’s reflections on the proposed knighthood of Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson, on page 37 of The Observer. The sub-heading of the article was, ‘Boris Johnson’s plan to honour his father is an insult to victims of domestic violence’. Initially, as I first read it, I agreed; knighting…
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Book review by the Restorative Justice Council
My book ‘Boys, Childhood Domestic Abuse and Gang Involvement: Violence at Home, Violence on-road’ was reviewed by David Smith, Policy and Communications Officer at the Restorative Justice Council, UK. The review was published in issue 73 (Winter) and I have been given permission to reproduce the review here. It is such an honour to have…
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The problematic past tense of ‘Lived Experience’
The term ‘lived experience ‘ has been on my mind recently. I have been mulling over the term like rolling a marble between my fingers, but have struggled to articulate the tension I feel about it. The definition of ‘lived experience’ in the sense I am discussing is, ‘Personal knowledge about the world gained through…
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My #16days of activism 2022
On the 25th of November the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence begins. It is an annual international campaign that starts on the 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. As this year I have published my book, I am…
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Bits and pieces out this week
This week I have engaged in some different types of writing. Sometimes I really enjoy writing short sharp articles to get the broader research messages out there to different audiences. An article for The Conversation. The Istanbul Convention is coming into force in the UK next week after being finally ratified over the summer. Rosalie Ward &…
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Interview on ‘Now and Men’ podcast
What impact does domestic abuse have on boys when growing up? Why is it that so many young men who are ‘on-road’ or involved in gangs have experienced domestic abuse in the home as children? If the boundaries between being a ‘perpetrator’ and a ‘victim’ of violence are not always as clear cut as we…
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Reflections on the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s response to the Serious Violence Duty Consultation
The response from the office of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, Nicole Jacobs, to the Government consultation on the Statutory Guidance on the Serious Violence Duty is very much worth reading (Link here). It makes a clear case for the inclusion of domestic abuse in the definition of serious violence for duty…
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Book Publication Day!
Today my first book is being published by Policy Press. It is quite something to have been working on the project for the last five years in research terms and then see it come out in print. You can order a copy here. If you sign up to the Policy Press newsletter you can recieve…
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‘Why is no one talking about the fact domestic violence has a detrimental effect on children?’ A critical reflection
Last week there was a moment in the feminist twittersphere. I have been mulling it over since and wanted to write and think through my thoughts on it. It started when a feminist barrister tweeted a news article which featured Spice Girl Mel B and her daughter talking about the abuse that they had faced.…
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Why there’s no (adult) child survivor of Domestic Abuse #MeToo movement
As I have written about previously, in recent times there has been a vast increase in the number of child survivors of domestic abuse who have shared their stories publicly. Celebrities such as Ian Wright, Will Smith, Patrick Stewart, Alicia Dixon, to name a few, have disclosed that they are child survivors of abuse. This…
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A feminist reading of UCU’s 4 fights
The first fight is around pay. Real time pay has dropped Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), show that the pay of staff has dropped by around 17% in real-terms since 2009. The union says that staff pay has actually fallen by around 20% in the last decade. This has coincided with the largest period of…
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Some recent writing
I have been a busy bee recently. Writing has more been about disseminating some things I have been mulling over, but if you are interested here are some bits and pieces that have been published this month. Music elicitation was featured in the Sociological Review in their month on innovative methods. This was fun to…
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Call for Evidence submission: Commission on Young Lives 2021
Dr Jade Levell Lecturer in Criminology and Gender Violence Centre for Gender and Violence Research, School for Policy Studies University of Bristol Jade.Levell@Bristol.ac.uk Call for Evidence submission: Commission on Young Lives 2021 My research has focused on the issue of young people who experience domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in childhood and who later become…
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Music Elicitation featured in a new ‘Family Criminology’ text book
The power of music as a listening tool in social research is something that has been close to my heart over recent years. At times I wonder if it is almost too simple- using music as an interview tool is an easy, low resource way to open up conversations. It creates a bridge between listeners,…
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The Commission on Young Lives: The ‘conveyer belt from vulnerable children’ to ‘criminal gangs’…
Last week saw the press release for the launch of the Commission on Young Lives (Link here). Led by Anne Longfield, the former children’s commissioner, it aims to focus on the pathway of school exclusion, grooming, and county lines involvement for many vulnerable young people. I was thrilled to see the several mentions, in the…
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Responding to the VAWG strategy linking DVA & ‘County Lines’
I have finally had chance to look through the UK Governments new ‘Violence Against Women and Girls’ Strategy; Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls. (Link here). One very interesting passage which is relevant to my research on boys who experience domestic abuse in childhood and later go on-road or become ‘gang’ involved was the explicit…
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Music Elicitation in Practice; ‘Never coming home’
I have recently carried out a training session to a diverse audience- social researchers, social workers, NGOs, international development workers. The subject of the session was ‘Music Elicitation as a Listening Tool’ and I spoke broadly about the benefits of the method as a way to listen to vulnerable or marginalised people. I keep talking…
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Reflections on the Serious Case Review of ‘Liam’
This week I have spent time reading the serious case review of ‘Liam’, a 17-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in 2020. The report by Southampton Safeguarding Children Partnership has just been released. You can read the report here, and associated media article here. When reading it I was struck by how similar the…
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Reflections on Ian Wright’s Home truths Documentary
I have finally caught up with Ian Wright’s documentary ‘Home Truths”. This documentary was ground-breaking in so many ways. It raised issues that are historic taboos and also refocuses us on what it really means to be an adult survivor of childhood abuse. What it mean to recognise your own childhood victimhood and the enduring…
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On the emotional cost of working with domestic violence in a Pandemic
It was late last week where I realised I had hit the wall. I, like many others, have been trying to continue working, homeschooling small children, and still stay on track with the work that I am doing. However, what I hadn’t taken into account was the ongoing emotional cost of working in such a…
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Recent High Profile Male Disclosures of Childhood DVA
Over the weekend Arnold Schwarzenegger put out a very powerful video speech in response to last weeks events at the capitol building in the USA. He recounted the impact of his own experiences in childhood growing up in the shadow of the Nazi era in Austria. As part of this he talked about his own…
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A book is on its way….
I have some really amazing news to share with you! I have connected with a publisher (Bristol University Policy Press) and I will be writing my first book next year. The book will be based on my PhD thesis, where I explored the narratives of men who experienced both childhood domestic violence/abuse and on-road and…
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Hedonists or Hidden Victims: Teenagers outside of home during Lockdown
As the UK heads into another lockdown, we need to consider the impact of lockdown on young people who live at home with domestic violence. In particular, young people who are the least likely to be seen as victims themselves. In the last UK lockdown, the UK Government responded to the problem of teenagers who…
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Older Boys and DVA Refuges: Shut out
Today I wanted to write a response to the new Women’s Aid report which outlines the barriers that children face when accessing refuge provision. You can access a copy here. This was a very welcome report in that it gives voice to children and young people themselves about their difficult experiences leaving homes and localities…
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Schools and domestic violence post-lockdown: Rejecting a static view of risk
Today there was a report in the Independent, that domestic violence services are preparing themselves for a surge in reporting as schools reopen. As noted in the article there has been a staggering increase: “at the end of May, it emerged calls to the UK’s national domestic abuse helpline had risen by 66 per cent…
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Online Survey for Survivors of Domestic Abuse
A research team across Bournemouth University (Dept of Social Sciences (Criminology), Dept of Social Work, Dept of Psychology) are conducting research on interventions for domestic violence and abuse perpetrators. As part of the data collection we are looking for survivors of domestic abuse to complete a short anonymous survey which focuses in particular on their…
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My Hopes: Children being recognised as victims in the domestic abuse bill
Yesterday children were recognised as victims in the domestic abuse bill. This was somewhat a landmark situation for many reasons. I have been mulling over this and wanted to collect my thoughts about next steps. The direction of provision for children who have experienced domestic abuse has gone in the same as many other services…
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COVID-19 and Children Experiencing Domestic Violence & Abuse
Thinking about child survivors of DVA and COVID-19 Like many people who work in the domestic violence and abuse sector I have been thinking a lot about the way in which victims of DVA will be coping during this strange time of global pandemic. I have been thinking in particular about the children who are…
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New co-authored report with the Victim’s Commissioner
I am delighted to say that I have co-authored a report with the Office of the Victim’s Commissioner which was released yesterday. I presented my research to the team back in autumn and they started their own work looking at the intersection between childhood experience of domestic abuse and later on-road/gang-involvement. I am really pleased…
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PhD Parenting- My Top 10 Tips
Now that I have submitted my thesis I have been reflecting on the journey. During my studies I have greedily read through every type of blog post and guide which outlines others experiences of PhD parenting and made me feel it was all possible. So I thought now is a good time to contibute and…
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Delivering a lecture on my research in prison
Studying at The Open University is an amazing thing in so many ways. I love its flexibility, its lack of dogma around getting the top grades, and its general lack of snobbery and inaccessibility. An element of the OU which I only recently found out about is that the OU has a lot of students…
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Kosovo Summer School: Feminism of the 99%
Earlier in June I spent the week visiting the University of Prishtina in Kosovo to guest lecture on the Gender Studies department’s summer school; Feminism of the 99%: Equity, Advocacy, Privilege. The week was funded by CEL, the Centre for Equality and Liberty http://cel-ks.org/?hl=en, which is in turn part funded by the Government of the…
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Publication: A methodological reflection on the use of music as an elicitation tool
The first publication from The Road Home Study has been published this month. It is a methodological reflection of the use of music in narrative interviews. It is an open access paper, so free for all to view. Take a look here https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1609406919852010 Whilst thinking about publishing and sharing this, my thoughts have been with…
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Sons of Domestic Abuse
Today there has been a potentially big breakthrough in terms of domestic violence and the legal position of victims in the UK. Sally Challen, who was convicted of murdering her husband, has had permission for a retrial. The case for this was due to the change in UK law, with the significant change of coercive…
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Documentary Review: Gun No. 6
Gun No. 6 is a documentary with a difference. It was a moving, powerful, heart-breaking, raw, multi-faceted film which showed the ripples of pain that emanate from gun crime. The premise of the film is to trace back the story of ‘gun No.6’, so called by the police as it is one firearm which has…
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Sharing music and understanding
It has been quite a long time since I have written here as I have been deep in the fieldwork stage of the project. Locating men who want to meet and talk about both domestic violence and gang involvement is tricky to say the least. It has been compounded by the pressures on front-line organisations…
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Looking for people to take part in #TheRoadHome Study
It is now at the point in The Road Home Study for research to be gathered. The fieldwork stage will be completed by Christmas time all being well. I have already started the interviews and am now looking for more agencies and individuals to work with me on this study. There are two elements to…
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Evicting gang member’s families: Deciding who deserves a home
Over the last week there have been several news stories running that talk about one of the new elements of gang policing that are being trialed in North London: the ability for gang members families to be evicted from their homes*. The current scheme that is being trialed in North London is part of Operation…
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Going up river…
Today I have spent the day making a short film about my research. The filming was funded by the OU Health and Wellbeing Priority Research Area, who also fund my research. It was a short film looking at my research as well as my academic and personal pathway. During the filming they kept asking me…
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Searching for the story behind the ‘absent fathers’
One thing I have noticed when reading research and media reports on gangs is the ubiquitous mention of a dad-gap; ‘absent fathers’. They are often cited as a contributory reason for young people joining gangs, who then search for replacements to the illusive ‘strong male role models’ to provide discipline, an example, a substitute family.…
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Why #TheRoadHome study?
Welcome to my first ever blog post! When thinking where to begin, I thought that I would share where the idea for #TheRoadHome study came from. Like most big projects it evolved from tiny little ideas that found their way together. I have always taken an interest in the experiences and treatment of children who…
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