Position: Professor in Criminology and Criminal Justice

Email: m.feilzer@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0) 1248 388171

Location: Room 113.4, Main Arts Mezzanine

Martina studied law at the University of Tübingen before completing an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Edinburgh in 1999, and a DPhil on the influence of the media on public perceptions of crime and criminal justice at the University of Oxford in 2008. She worked as a research officer at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford for six years on numerous projects funded by the Youth Justice Board, the Home Office, and the Nuffield Foundation.

Martina joined the Bangor University in 2007 and has since undertaken a range of research projects relating to the workings of the criminal justice system, including policing, the changes to probation, and questions of penal policy. Martina is a member and Co-Director of the ESRC funded WISERD Civil Society Centre; and is a Co-Director at the Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice.

Her research interests are the relationship between the public and criminal justice at local, national, and European level; the relationship between the media and public opinion of criminal justice; questions of legitimacy, trust in justice and penal policy; and comparative and historical criminal justice research. Martina is developing the concept of public narratives based on her methodological interests.

Martina has a strong interest in the use of mixed methods research and the secondary analysis and visualisation of existing datasets.

Research News

Man, R.; Feilzer, M.Y. et al. (2020-2023). Borders, Migration and Boundary Mechanisms.

Part of WISERD, Civil Society/Civic Stratification and Civil Repair Large Centre (2019-2024), ESRC funded.

Loftus, B. and Feilzer, M.Y. (2019-2020). Checkpoint Cymru: A process evaluation of the introduction of a custody suite diversion scheme in North Wales.

KESS programme in collaboration with North Wales Police, ESF funding.

Feilzer, M.Y. and Machura, S. (2019-2020). Exploring the impact of Domestic Violence Protection Notices on victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.

KESS programme in collaboration with North Wales Police, ESF funding.

Feilzer, M.Y. and Jones, I.R. (2017-2019). Social and Cultural Capital in Later Life

Part of the WISERD/ESRC Civil Society large centre funded in 2014, This two-year research project will explore the evidence on the impact of ageing on participation in civil society and intergenerational relations in form of data sources available on ageing, social participation, intergenerational relations, and civil society.

Feilzer, M.Y. and Krayer, A. (2016-2017). Organisational Culture and Self-Legitimacy in Policing. 

Funded by North Wales Police, the research was initiated by North Wales Police’s Confidence and Ethical Standards Committee to explore North Wales Police staff perceptions of organisational fairness, feelings of being valued by the organisation, and organisational pride.

Doloriert, C. and Feilzer, MY (2016-2017). Developing Knowledge Management and Leadership in North Wales Police. ESRC IAA project, Co-Applicant.

Bakir, V. et al. (2014-2016) ESRC seminar series: DATA - PSST! Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements - Privacy, Security, Surveillance, Trust. Co-applicant.

Selected Research:

Deering, J., and Feilzer, M.Y. (2014). Probation practitioners’ views of Transforming Rehabilitation

This project follows on from the pilot below and seeks to explore the views of probation workers about government intentions to marketise and part-privatise the service’s functions, as outlined in Transforming Rehabilitation. Transforming Rehabilitation proposed the creation of ‘Community Rehabilitation Companies’ (CRCs) which will in due course be subject to marketisation and privatisation and a new National Probation Service, which will be part of the civil service. Using an online survey, we are exploring probation practitioners’ views of the transition process and the new set-up on probation practitioners’ values, expectations of probation services, and the legitimacy of probation work.

Deering, J., Feilzer, M.Y., and Holmes, T. (2012-2013). Probation practitioners’ views of working in the private sector.

This research seeks to explore the views of probation practitioners who have left the probation service and joined private sector companies to provide services to offenders in the community or in custody. Whilst many academics have expressed concern over the legitimacy, accountability, and quality of services provided by the private sector, few seem to have consulted those on the frontline of service provision who have experience of working in both sectors. Practitioners’ views on working practices, work ethos, quality of service provision, and their own role are an important factor in establishing the impact of private sector service provision of probation services on the nature of service provision and contemporary landscape of penal practices.

Seddon, D., Khoury, S. , Feilzer, M.Y., and Robinson, C.A. (2012). Independent Domestic Violence Advisors in North Wales – Assessing implementation and impact.

The research aims to provide an evidence base to inform future policy and practice developments relating to the IDVA service across North Wales. This will ultimately help to better meet the needs of people affected by domestic violence living in the area.

Feilzer, M., Roome, D., and Trew, J. (2010-2011), collaborative project of Bangor University and North Wales Police. The impact of value based decision making on policing in North Wales. Funded by WAG.

North Wales Police is rolling out ‘value-based decision making’ in operational policing across the force area.The concept of value based decision making (VBDM) can be described as affording staff greater discretion in determining the most appropriate resolution for minor crimes, incidents, and road traffic offences. It is an essential element of the force’s drive to provide an increasingly ‘citizen-focussed’ service, and is intended to increase the trust and confidence of people in policing services, as well as improving efficiency through streamlined processes. The research will monitor the impact of the training in value-based decision making on operational practices, including aspects of operational policing such as detection rates, and its impact on police officers’ and the public’s perceptions of frontline policing.

Feilzer, M., Plows, A., Williams, K., and Yates, J. (2010-2011), collaborative project of WISERD and WCCSJ (Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice), Bangor and Aberystwyth Universities.
An evaluation of the Women’s Turnaround Project in North Wales

The Women’s Turnaround project aims to engage women offenders so that they make necessary changes to stop offending, following a holistic, woman-centred, service model recommended by the Corston Report in 2007. The research will explore the women’s and stakeholder’s perspectives on what women need and whether the Turnaround project in North Wales has helped women to move forward in achieving their targets. Using a mixed methods approach, the research will evaluate whether the project has altered the behaviour/life-styles of the women participating in the research and how far any changes were internalised (from the perspective of the women) rather than just an external perception (on the part of workers). The research explores these questions in relation to the Women’s Turnaround project based in the Women’s Centre in Rhyl, North Wales.

Feilzer, M. and Javed, F. (2010)
Policing the Muslim Community in North Wales: Negotiating the demands of community policing and counter-terrorism

Muslim communities in the UK have become the target of adverse media coverage; increased and mainly adversarial police attention as part of counter terrorism measures; and, in some areas, increased racially motivated crime. Additionally, young Muslims have felt the effects of an identity crisis as British Muslims negotiating traditional cultural and religious values and the demands of the majority white British culture surrounding them, while defending themselves against suspicions of religious fundamentalism, radicalisation, and terrorism. The research explores how North Wales Police can better engage with the local Muslim community, in particular, women and young people, for the purpose of counter-terrorism as well as community policing. Thus, the proposed research explores strategies to build relations between the police and Muslim communities in the particular context of North Wales.

Feilzer, M. with Yener Altunbas and Shanti Chakravarty (2008)
Interrogating the British Crime Survey from a local perspective: The case of North Wales

The British Crime Survey (BCS) is a national victim survey which assesses experiences of crime, the behaviour of victims of crime in regard to reporting of crimes to the police, and survey respondents’ attitudes to, and confidence in, the criminal justice system and its main agencies. Certain components of the BCS are now used as performance indicators which contribute to the assessment of local police force performance. This is a fairly new development and there has been limited academic discussion of the suitability of the BCS for this purpose. This research responds to concerns about the use made of BCS data in performance management and allocation of resources at a /local/ police force level. The research will explore the suitability, validity, and reliability of BCS data for performance management, production of crime estimates, and resource allocation on an individual police force level; and include a secondary analysis of British Crime Survey data using a context-sensitive ‘bottom-up’ approach.

Teaching

Undergraduate:

SXY1007 Introductory Criminology and Criminal Justice

SXY3021 Perspectives on Youth Crime

Postgraduate:

SXY4020 Comparative and International Criminal Justice

Research Students

Nelson Ramos (PhD)

Human Trafficking, European Union policy development. The effects on national and local police procedures. Comparative study between England/Wales and Portugal.

Yusuf Usman (PhD)
Impact of Militant activities on the Oil and Gas sector in Nigeria

Bryn Moore (MRes)
Militarising Minds: The Normalisation of Brutality

Gabriella Simak (PhD)
The use of restorative justice with young people with mental health problems

Ado Sale (PhD, awarded 2014)

Coping with, and responding to, prison overcrowding: a study of Nigeria’s prisons.

Jessica Trew (MRes, awarded 2012)

The conflict between procedural justice and managerialism in operational policing.

Activities

Public Engagement:

Public Lecture 2017, University of the Third Age (U3A), Bangor. Paper: Barriers to social participation in later life – fear of crime and fear of young people.

Interview for Eye on Wales, on probation reforms, radio programme 13 November 2016

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2016

Academy of Social Sciences blog on Prison reform, published September 2016

Contribution to Lammy Review of BAME representation in the Criminal Justice System, May 2016

The Conversation, article published, 16 July 2015: Fears for offender rehabilitation as Britain embraces US-style probation

Guardian Public Leaders Network Blog on probation research – published 7 July 2015.

2015: Paper: Barriers to social participation in later life – fear of crime and fear of young people. Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing. Seminar: Civil society and ageing populations.

Research Reviews for Ministry of Justice; Journal Reviews for Crime, Media, Culture; Journal of Mixed Methods Research; Book Proposal Reviews for Cambridge University Press, Routledge.

2015 – current: Deputy Director of Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice

2012-2015: Member of ESRC Commissioning Panel for Research Seminars and Strategic Networks

2014/15-2017/18: External Examiner, Birmingham University – School of Law

Events / Conference Papers

2017: Bangor Interdisciplinary Conference on Childhood and Youth, Bangor

Paper: A New Era for Youth Justice? Exploring the dramatic fall of young people going through the Youth Justice System and its meaning for youth justice.

2017: Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice Conference, Gregynog

Papers: Questions of legitimacy in probation practice after transforming rehabilitation; A New Era for Youth Justice? Exploring the dramatic fall of young people going through the Youth Justice System and its meaning for youth justice.

2016: European Society of Criminology Conference
Paper: Developing the concept of public narratives: What to measure, how to measure, and what for?

2015: Privatisation of Criminal Justice Conference, Leicester. Invited speaker, opening plenary; Paper: The attitudes of probation staff towards Transforming Rehabilitation.

2015: European Society of Criminology Conference
Paper: Public narratives of criminal justice: Lessons from pragmatism as a research paradigm

2015: Keynote at Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice Annual Conference. Privatising Probation: Is Transforming Rehabilitation the end of the probation ideal?

2015: Britain in Europe conference
Paper: Seeing through the Communication Fog – who is saying what on human rights?

2014: Media & Politics Conference: Media, Persuasion, and Human Rights. Paper: Public narratives of human rights

2014: Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice Conference. Paper: Seeking Probation Officers’ Views on Transforming Rehabilitation

2013: Open Symposium: Probation and Offender Management: The prospects and pitfalls of marketisation. Cardiff, Dec. 2013. Convened and chaired with John Deering and WCCSJ.

2013: Annual Wiserd Conference.
Paper: Ageing, young people, and fear of crime: Some unsettling findings.

2013: Convened and chaired Seminar on Policing for the Commission on Devolution at Bangor University with representatives including academics from Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed-Powys, and Devolution Commissioners.

2013: Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice Conference, Gregynog
Paper: Moving from the public to the private in probation.

2012: Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice Conference, Gregynog
Paper: The Emperor’s New Clothes. Changes in criminal justice and penal policy and implications for local research.

2011: Invitation to attend a Public, Crime and Justice workshop in Edinburgh to advise the Scottish Government on Policy development.

2011: Inaugural meeting of Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice, Criminal Justice and Penal Policy network.
Paper: Interpretations of procedural justice: Implementing value-based decision making in North Wales.

2011: British Society of Criminology Conference
Paper: Big Society and Corston: A reality check

2009: Youth Justice Board London Regional Round Table event on Disproportionality. Invited Speaker.
Paper: Disproportionality, ethnic minorities, and youth justice

2008: Rethinking public confidence in the criminal justice system, Newcastle University, ESRC funded conference, Invited speaker.
Paper: Public criminology – theory and practice of communicating ‘facts’ on crime and criminal justice

2008: Justice, Media and Public: Comparative and Historical Perspectives, Keele University
Paper: The importance of telling a good story

2007: Annual meeting of the Law and Society Association
Paper: The Magic Bullet? Educating the Public about Crime and Criminal Justice

2006: Justice, Media and Public: a one-day workshop.
Paper: The impact of factual information on crime and criminal justice

2005: XVth European Conference on Psychology and Law
Paper: The impact of a factual newspaper column on readers of a local newspaper

2005: British Society of Criminology Conference
Paper: The impact of a factual newspaper column on readers of a local newspaper