Dr Jessica Urwin

Jessica is a Lecturer in Criminology and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. After gaining a BSc in Psychology from Coventry University Jessica worked in secondary schools with at-risk young people and completed research for the National Youth Agency. This led her to complete a MRes in Social Work at De Montfort University prior to undertaking her PhD. She currently teaches on Criminology programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Her research focuses on youth justice, considering both the system can be developed to be fairer and how justice-involved children are represented and responded to in society.

Jessica’s doctoral research focused on the provision of mental health services for young people who offend; considering how the criminal justice context impacted the approach of mental health care. This work was the basis of a monograph published in 2018. Since then Jessica has worked on research projects investigating police officers’ reasoning for stop and search practices, evaluating mental health training programmes for police officers and considering the mental health impacts of AR games on young adults. Currently Jessica’s research is focused on the treatment of young people by youth justice systems, police, and society. This has led to the book; A Popular Criminology of Youth Justice (2025), and the social perception of justice-involved children has become a key area of her research. 

Urwin, J. (2025) “Adolesence (Review)” Crime Media Culture https://doi.org/10.1177/17416590251338333 

Urwin, J. (2025) A Popular Criminology of Youth Justice: Youth On Film London: Routledge 10.4324/9781003403159 

Urwin, J. (2025) “A Popular Criminology of Youth Justice” in Pierce, E. and Martin, G. Research Handbook on Youth Criminology Cheltenham: Elgar pg:46-60 https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035300754.00010 

Urwin, J. and Wertans, E. (2023) Process and Outcome Evaluation of the Community Leadership Programme University of Leicester https://le.ac.uk/-/media/uol/docs/research-centres/hate-studies/clp-final-report---updated.pdf 

Urwin, J. and Flick, C. (2019) "AR Games as a Potential Source of Improved Mental Wellbeing: Implications for self-help and individual support" Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds 11(3) 309-328

Urwin, J. (2018) A Return to Social Justice: Youth Justice, Ideology and Philosophy, London: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-3-319-73042-4

Urwin, J. (2018) "Imposter Phemonena and Experience Levels in Social Work: An Initial Investigation" British Journal of Social Work 48(5), 1432-1446

Urwin, J. and Hine, J. (2018) Evaluation of Inter-professional MHFA Training in Leicestershire: Interim Report De Montfort University DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28731.31524

I am currently supervising PhD research on the impact of relationships with adults upon children in custody, the lived experiences of survivors of corrosive substance crime, and violence in schools. Previously I have supervised PhDs on the communication methods of far-right youth groups and the experiences of BAME men on probation.

I am happy to accept applications to supervise PhDs on the following topics:

• Youth crime and youth justice,
• Mental health support within criminal justice
• Social justice and criminal justice ideologies
• Youth subculture and cultural criminology
• Media analysis and social perception

• Youth Crime and Justice (Undergraduate)
•  Culture, Media, and the Lifecourse (Undergraduate)

I am currently the Ethics Officer for the school, as well as the Post-Graduate Research Director

ITV Central News (2025) “Community in shock after teenagers found guilty of killing pensioner” ITV News Available at: https://www.itv.com/watch/news/community-in-shock-after-teenagers-found-guilty-of-killing-pensioner/g64zw37 (Broadcast 9th April 2025)

The Third Degree (2024) “Series 14, Episode 1: The University of Leicester” BBC Radio 4 Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00213dr (Broadcast 11th July 2024)

BSc Psychology

MRes Social Work

PhD in Youth Justice

PGCert Higher Education