Jessica Elizabeth Bigford
Thesis Title: Quantitative Investigation into Feminist Gendered Pathways to Female Offending in the UK
Quantitative, empirical study investigating gendered pathways to offending utilising the Women’s Risk/Needs Assessment data produced from the ‘Trauma, Social Harm and Health in Criminal Justice Involved Women: The Women's Risk Needs Assessment Validation Research’ Study. This study will utilise statistical techniques and take a feminist pathways perspective to identify the impact social exclusion has on female offending, identify the most influential risk factors of offending for women, and evaluate the interventions of Women’s Centres on recidivism rates. Using R, the study will produce regression analysis in order to answer the research questions. This research is unique in the data and techniques that are being used to investigate feminist gendered pathways research. Many previous studies have failed to investigate social exclusion as a cohesive factor and not investigated compound effects of factors. The results from this study would support policy development by devising models to explain the complex inter-relationships between risk factors in order to provide a road map for policy-writers that has not previously been available.
Biography
Jessica Bigford is a current PhD student at the University of Birmingham focusing on gendered pathways to offending for female offenders. Jessica has developed an insight and appreciation for feminist theories in criminology and quantitative research throughout her previous studies. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Criminal Justice and Criminology (International) (Quantitative) from the University of Leeds and a MA in Social Science Research from the University of Birmingham. Additionally, Jessica has worked as a project research assistant at the University of Leeds; as well as a data analyst for a local authority public health team, and a statistician at the Office for National Statistics, working on the Covid Infection Survey. Furthermore, she has been working with Simon Pemberton, contributing to his work on Harmful Societies, conducting quantitative investigations into austerity and harm. Jessica has practical and theoretical experience working with R and Stata, among other applications for statistical analysis. Looking forward, Jessica hopes to continue developing her analytical and theoretical knowledge, and to contribute to the field of criminological research, with a specific focus on quantitative research in the area. Jessica has a burning passion for conducting statistical analysis, and especially loves using R (she is happy to talk about it often). In her free time, she enjoys a good novel and history, and can usually be found exploring historical sites on the weekend.
Other Research Interests
Domestic violence
Sexual violence
Abuse
Gendered violence
Gender differences in crime
Harm
Social Exclusion
Social Policy
University of Birmingham
2022 Cohort, +3
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jepartridge/
Supervisory Team
Simon Pemberton
Miguel Ribeira Ramos