Research interests

• Parole, risk assessment, and decision-making in criminal justice
• Moral and ethical dimensions of punishment and imprisonment
• Long-term imprisonment, life sentences, and prison adaptation across the life course
• Historical and contemporary perspectives on penal policy and practice
• Criminal justice institutions, occupational cultures, and the third sector

Current research

Ben's research focuses on decision-making processes in criminal justice, particularly how release and progression decisions are made about people serving long prison sentences. His work bridges empirical prison sociology and moral philosophy, examining how some of the ethical questions raised by penal theorists intersect with practical considerations in penal policy and practice.

His current research examines parole decision-making through an ethnographic lens, investigating how prison staff and other professionals approach the complex task of assessing prisoners' progress and readiness for release. This builds on his doctoral work, which explored how men serving life sentences for murder interpret and respond to the moral messages communicated through their punishment.

Drawing on both practical experience and academic expertise, Ben examines how risk assessment frameworks shape moral communication between prisoners and criminal justice professionals. His research contributes to debates about punishment, rehabilitation, and the purposes of imprisonment, while maintaining a focus on how abstract principles translate into lived experience within the prison system.

As a Research Fellow, Ben's teaching interests align with his research expertise in criminal justice, penology, and the sociology of punishment. He has experience teaching undergraduate criminology and criminal justice to law students, with particular emphasis on how theoretical frameworks illuminate real-world criminal justice practices. His approach draws on both academic scholarship and practical insights as a voluntary sector practitioner in the criminal justice sector.

He has supervised Masters dissertations examining third-sector involvement in criminal justice and has delivered guest lectures on various aspects of prison research, including research ethics, prisoner experiences, and methodological challenges in custodial settings. He is particularly interested in helping students understand the complex relationships between penal theory and practice, and in supporting their engagement with challenging questions in criminal justice research.

Ben is a Research Fellow at Southampton's Law School, where he investigates parole decision-making and the parole process in England & Wales. His research explores the intersections between the sociology of prisons and punishment, moral philosophy, and criminal law, with a particular focus on the experiences of long-term prisoners and the implications of extreme punishments in the UK criminal justice system.

Ben's interest in this field originated during his work with Fine Cell Work, a social enterprise producing textile arts in prisons. This experience led him into research on the experiences of people serving very long prison sentences, and eventually to a doctorate jointly funded by the ESRC and Quakers in Britain. It examined the ethical experiences of men imprisoned for life for murder, exploring how they negotiated the challenge of spending decades in prison, and how they responded to the censure of a murder conviction. During the PhD, Ben completed a Knowledge Exchange Fellowship with the Prison Reform Trust, conducting a prisoner consultation on the policies which govern sentence progression.

From 2022 to 2024, Ben was a Senior Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London' Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, where he led an international comparative project on prison labour and employment training for prisoners and prison-leavers.

Ben's career began as a secondary schoolteacher, before he transitioned to the criminal justice sector through roles with the Quaker Council for European Affairs and Clinks. His work with questions of justice, rehabilitation, and human dignity within the prison system and draws on both practical experience and academic expertise. He brings a unique perspective to the study of long-term imprisonment and its effects, particularly regarding how prisoners navigate the moral and ethical dimensions of their sentences.

He welcomes collaboration with researchers and practitioners in criminology, sociology, public policy, and law, both within Southampton and beyond. His work seeks to bridge theoretical understanding and practical application, and to contribute to both academic discourse and policy development in the field of criminal justice.

Prizes