Professor Chris Hale

Chris Hale became interested in criminology when he began to research the relationship between punishment and the economy. This led to a wider concern in the ways political debates around law and order have impacted on responses to crime. In particular, he became interested in fear of crime and the way this has been used to justify punitive policies. 

Professor Hale’s statistical background has meant that he has often been engaged in quantitative analysis of crime data, both official statistics and crime surveys. He has been interested in examining the relationships between crime and fear of crime within wider economic and social changes. More recently, he worked on several large-scale evaluations of new interventions and crime reduction strategies. 

His other interests include policing and youth crime. 

Most recent funded research

• Evaluating the effectiveness and outcomes of the Rural Partnership Initiative (2003-2006). 
• Kent Rural Partnership - Study of level and fear of crime (2004) 

Both the above were for Kent County Council and part of a wider set of work looking at their community safety strategies with a particular focus on rural areas. 

• Review of the current knowledge on the statistical development, core risk and protective factors and measures to reduce juvenile violence in the EU member states (2003-2004). This project for the European Union Crime Prevention Network examined both trends in juvenile violence and interventions to deal with the problems across all the current 15 members states of the EU. 
• Evaluation of Police Performance Management Project Enhance (2004). The Police Standards Unit in the Home Office funded this work that looked at the implementation of a flexible performance regime by the local Canterbury police. The hope is that it will enable them to respond more effectively to local public concerns. 
• Referral Order Re-conviction Study (2004). I was one of the team that evaluated the introduction of the restorative justice based referral orders for young offenders in England and Wales. This was a follow study looking at how successful they have been in reducing re-convictions. The work was funded by the Youth Justice Board.  

Professor Hale is Director of the MA Methods of Social Research and the Programme Co-ordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology.  

He has given lectures and seminars on core criminology modules.

Professor Hale welcomes research students with proposals in his area of research interest.

Professor Chris Hale is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences. 

Memberships 

• The British Society of Criminology. 
• The American Society of Criminology. 
• The Howard league for Penal Reform. 
• The program committee for the 1995 meeting of the American Society of Criminology.

Editorial 

Member of the editorial board and former referee for: 

• The British Journal of Criminology 
• The Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
• Punishment and Society. 

Referee 

• American Sociological Review, Criminology
• Journal of Quantitative Criminology 
• International Review of Victimology
• Pacific Sociology Review. 

External assessor 

• ESRC and the Nuffield Foundation on grant applications in the criminological area.