Dr Emma Sleath

Associate Professor of Criminology; Head of School

School/Department: Criminology and Sociology, School of

Profile

I focus on research that benefits victim-survivors of sexual and domestic violence, particularly by engaging with police forces and other criminal justice agencies. I have networks that span criminal justice, health, academic, and third sector/voluntary organisations with whom I collaborate and co-create to find practical solutions that make a difference.

My most recent research is a £1.3 million Multi-disciplinary Evaluation of Sexual Assault Referral Centres for Better Health (MESARCH). This explored the integration of sexual assault referral centres in the community response to sexual violence. My research has also uncovered impacts of Covid-19 as part of the work I have done for the Justice in Covid-19 for Sexual Abuse and Violence programme. This focussed specifically on police officers and how they responded to the pandemic.

I am committed to research that makes a difference to victim-survivors. I do this through working with police forces to develop evidence based and practical solutions that draw on large quantitative datasets and qualitative methods.

Research

Multidisciplinary Evaluation of Sexual Assault Referral Centres for better Health (MESARCH) I am currently leading a workstream on a £1.2 million pound funded project by the National Institute for Health Research. This project aims to evaluate the provision of sexual assault referral centres in England. mapping out the integration of services and the work of SARCs within the sexual violence sector.

JiCSAV: Justice in Covid-19 for Sexual Abuse and Violence Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on criminal justice journeys of adult and child survivors of sexual abuse rape and sexual assault. I am currently leading the police element to this £200k funded project by the Economic and Research Council (as part of the UKRI Rapid Response to Covid-19). The project will draw on survivors’ and other criminal justice system stakeholders’ perspectives and experiences of (changes to) policies and practices in relation to sexual offences cases during the Covid-19 pandemic. From this knowledge we will aim to make recommendations for criminal justice policy and practice in England and Wales in relation to sexual offences in particular any innovations that may be of value post-pandemic.

Publications

Hadfield, E., Sleath, E., Brown, S., & Holdsworth, E. (in press). A systematic review into the effectiveness of Integrated Offender Management (IOM). Criminology & Criminal Justice, doi: 10.1177/1748895820912295

Walker, K., Sleath, E., Hatcher, R.M., Hine, B., & Crookes, R.L. (published online). Non-consensual sharing of private sexually explicit media amongst university students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, doi: 10.1177/0886260519853414

Walker, K., Sleath, E., & Tramontano, C. (2021). The prevalence and typologies of controlling behaviours in a general population sample. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36, 474-503. doi: 10.1177/0886260517731785

Sleath, E. (2019). Investigating and prosecuting rape: Victimsâ€™ and criminal justice professionalsâ€™ perspectives. In R. Bull and I. Blandon-Gitlin (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Legal and Investigative Psychology. Routledge.

Sleath, E., & Brown, S. (2019). Staff and offender perspectives of Integrated Offender Management and the impact of its introduction on arrests and risk of reoffending in one police force region. Policing and Society, 29, 511-529. doi: 10.1080/10439463.2017.1410148

Walker, K., Bowen, E., Brown, S., & Sleath, E. (2018). The process of primary desistance from intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 24, 843-875. doi: 10.1177/1077801217722238

Sleath, E., Walker, K., & Tramontano, C. (2018). Factor structure and validation of the Controlling Behaviours Scale-Revised and Revised Conflict Tactics Scale. Journal of Family Issues, 39, 1880-1903. doi: 10.1177/0192513X17729721

Walker, K, and Sleath, E. (2017). A systematic review of the current knowledge regarding revenge pornography and non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit media. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 36, 9-24. doi: 10.1016/j.avb.2017.06.010

Sleath, E., & Bull, R. (2017). A systematic review of police perceptions of rape victims and impact on case decision making. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 34, 102-112. doi: 10.1016/j.avb.2017.02.003

Sleath, E., & Smith, L.L. (2017). Understanding the factors that predict victim retraction in police reported allegations of intimate partner violence. Psychology of Violence, 7, 140-149. doi: 10.1037/vio0000035

Supervision

I am happy to accept applications to supervise PhDs on the following topics: Sexual violence - victimisation. Intimate partner violence - victimisation. Police responses to victims of serious crime. Image based sexual abuse (aka revenge pornography).

Teaching

I provide lectures in line with my expertise.

Press and media

Sexual violence - victimisation. Intimate partner violence - victimisation. Police responses to victims of serious crime. Image based sexual abuse (aka revenge pornography)