Outreach
Stepping away from my desk to share research findings is my favourite part of the job. Below are some highlights from my outreach activities.
2026 Cars & Crime Symposium
Following the success of the 2025 Cars & Crime Symposium, and thanks to funding from the new Faculty of Environment & Social Sciences at the University of Leeds, we held a repeat symposium in July 2026. Here is the programme, and some of the papers presented:
-Securing car-centric cities: An ecological reconstruction of ‘Designing out crime’
-Does the fear-victimisation paradox apply to the context of road violence?
-Testing the effect of motor traffic on fear of crime
-In defence of walkability as a crime prevention strategy
The Last Show with David Cooper - Car Traffic and Neighborhood Crime
Following publication from our article in Kriminologie, Toby Davies and I joined David Cooper to talk about the different ways traffic leads to street crime.
University of Leeds Research News - Cutting traffic cuts vandalism, burglary and violence
The University of Leeds interviewed Toby Davies and me to discuss the release of our article ‘Exploring the Effect of Motor Traffic on Street Crime’. We also wrote a short article summarising our findings for The Conversation.
British Society of Criminology’s - Criminal Justice Statistics Network Symposium 2026
I was asked to deliver the keynote talk for the BSC’s Criminal Justice Statistics Network Annual Symposium on the topic of ‘The Changing Landscape of Criminal Justice Data’. My talk was entitled ‘Our collective role in Improving the Evidence Base: Examples from Sentencing Research in England and Wales’; where I delved into how government data transformed sentencing research in England & Wales, how it did not, and what else we (academics) can do to help besides bemoaning data limitations. Slides available here.
Times Radio - Two-Tier Policing
In June 2026 I spoke to Henry Bonsu about the preposterous claim that White British are discriminated against by the criminal justice system.
I was back on Henry Bonsu’s show on the 2nd of July to discuss the article from The Telegraph “Prosecutors must ‘consider unconscious bias’ before charging minorities”.
Ministry of Justice - Data Quality Week
David Buil-Gil and I were invited to give a talk about measurement in police statistics for the Ministry of Justice Data Quality Week. David provided an introduction to the topic, while I covered the formal definition of measurement error and how to use our R package RCME to explore the impact of measurement error in regression models relying on police recorded crime rates.
Las Sentencias Penales como Objeto de Investigación Criminólogica
In November 2025 I was invited to participate in a webinar on sentencing research organised by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. My part starts at minute 56.
2025 Annual Conference of the Society of Legal Scholars
ECR Sentrix Project - Decision-making Architecture in Sentencing
In the spring of 2025 was invited by Mojca Plesnicar to contribute to the workshop organised by the ECR Sentrix Project on Decision-making Architecture in Sentencing by choosing one example from my research touching on that topic. I went for a combination of papers showing how consistency and individualisation are not mutually exclusive goals. Beyond Guidelines: How Judicial Interaction Promotes Consistency in Sentencing
Charles University - Research Seminars in Law, Economics and Empirics
In the spring of 2025 I was invited by Jakub Drápal to give a talk for his Research Seminars in Law, Economics and Empirics at Charles University Prague. Estimating Discrimination in Sentencing: Distinguishing between Good and Bad Controls
LSE Politics & Policy Blog
In March 2025 I co-authored a blogpost with Dr Eoin Guilfoyle about Ethnic disparities in sentencing and the perception of fairness, where we contributed to the discussions around the Sentencing Council revised guideline on the imposition of community and custodial sentences.
Methods Spotlight Series
For this first clip of our new 7X7 methods spotlight series at the Leeds Social Research Methods centre, I provide a broad introduction to measurement error and the methods available to adjust for it.
N8 Research Partnership - Fostering Collaboration and Community at the University of Leeds
In December 2024 I was interviewed by the consortium of northern universities (N8 Research Partnership) to discuss some of the initiatives I had led as Co-director of the Social Research Methods Centre fo foster a nurturing and healthy research culture at the University of Leeds.
LSE - Symposium on Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing
In November 2024 I organised a symposium to discuss the latest evidence of ethnic disparities in sentencing, bringing together policy-makers, sentencers, practitioners, and researchers from government, the civil sector and academia (program). This event marked the end of our ESRC project.
University of Manchester - ‘Crim Cafe’ Seminars
In October 2024 I was invited to present preliminary findings from my paper ‘What Is the External Validity of Sentencing Research? A multi-level meta-analysis of offenders’ race and gender, at the Crim Cafe seminar series in the University of Manchester. The slides from my talk are available here
Northumbria University - Empirical Research Methods Conference
In September 2024 I was invited to give a keynote talk (slides) at the Empirical Research Methods Conference held at Northumbria University. I took this opportunity to make the case for ‘An Empirical Revolution in Criminal Justice Research’.
Ministry of Justice - Splink & Data First Seminar
In April 2024 I was invited to give a talk to the Data First team at the Ministry of Justice, where I illustrated how their efforts to make administrative data available to researchers are contributing to a more robust evidence base in sentencing research. Slides are available here
Turing Institute - Causal Inference Interest Group
In March 2024 I was invited to present my paper ‘Modelling unwarranted disparities in sentencing: Distinguishing between bad and good controls’ at the Causal Inference Interest Group from the Turing Institute. Slides are available here
EROS - Case Level Sentencing Data in Europe
In January 2024 I co-organised an online workshop through the Empirical Research on Sentencing Network. Through this workshop we sought to explore what type of sentencing data is made openly available across different jurisdictions in Europe. The program of the event is available here, together with some of the presentations delivered on the day (here), and my own description of the limited data available in England & Wales (here).
Institute for Mathematical Innovation
In November 2023 I was invited to participate as a theme leader in the Maths for Justice Virtual Study Group organised by The Virtual Forum for Knowledge Exchange in the Mathematical Sciences (V-KEMS) and the Institute for Mathematical Innovation (IMI). In this three-day online event I presented the methodological challenges faced in the estimation of disparities in sentencing (slides). The result of the workshop was published as a preprint in the journal Mathematics in Industry Report
Smith, A., Hutton, J., Kamperis, S., Lee, W. T., and Pina-S´anchez, J. (2024). Disparities in criminal justice decision-making - VSG Maths for Justice (group B) report. Mathematics in Industry Reports. 10.33774/miir-2024-hcm7c
University of Girona - Seminari d’Investigacions Criminològiques Concepción Arenal
In May 2023 I was invited to participate in the international seminar series of the School of Law at the University of Girona. In my talk I challenged the view of individualisation and consistency as mutually exclusive sentencing principles. I pointed at evidence from the England & Wales guidelines as an example where both principles have been promoted simultaneously. Slides (in Spanish) are available here.
Police of Finland - The Police Blog
Dr Mika Sutela, wrote a blogplost for the Finnish Police ‘Measurement errors: a challenge in police crime statistics’, describing some of the research that we undertook as part of the Recounting Crime project.
De Monfort University - Contemporary Issues in Sentencing
In September 2022, I was invited to present my work on ethnic disparities in sentencing at the Sentencing Academy and De Montfort University panel on Contemporary Issues in Sentencing.
University of Hull - Innovative Methods in Criminology Podcast
Dr David Buil-Gil and I were invited to discuss our work on measurement error in crime data at Prof Iain Brenan podcast series on Innovative Methods in Criminology.
Ministry of Justice - Areas of Research Interest Seminar Series
In September 2022, I was invited to present my paper Ethnic disparities in sentencing: Warranted or unwarranted? at the MoJ Ares of Research Interest Seminar Series.
University of Hong Kong - Methods Hub Seminar Series
In September 2022, I was invited to give a talk for the Methods Hub Seminar Series from the University of Hong Kong, on ‘What Is Measurement Error’.
CPS Directors and Chief Crown Prosecutors
In January 2022, Dr Sam Lewis and I presented the findings from our study on disparities in decisions of charge to CPS Directors and Chief Crown Prosecutors. Slides are available here.
Universidade de Coimbra - Centro de Estudos Sociais
In July 2021, I was invited to participate in a workshop from Centro de Estudos Sociais of the Universidade de Coimbra, where I presented The England & Wales Sentencing Guidelines Experience. Slides are available here.
Universidad Miguel Hernández - PostC Videopodcast
In March 2021 Dr Ana Gómez-Bellvis invited Dr David Buil-Gil and myself to talk about the project Recounting Crime in her podcast series.
University of Manchester - UK Data Service Crime Data Workshop
In February 2020, Dr Ana Morales-Gómez invited me to give a talk on Secondary Data Analysis for Sentencing Research at the Methods@Manchester and UK Data Service Workshop on Crime Data. Slides available are here.
University of Exeter - Q-estival (People, Data and Society)
In September 2019, I was invited to participate in the ‘Q-estival (People, Data and Society)’ organised by the Q-Step Centre at the University of Exeter. During my talk I made the case for The Need of An Empirical Eevolution in Sentencing Research. Slides are available here.
University of Manchester - NCRM Research Showcase
In June 2019, I was invited to present findings from my project on Selection Bias in Sentencing Data Analysis at the NCRM Research Showcase, held at the University of Manchester. Slides are available here.
Universidad Miguel Hernández - Red EMPIRIC
In April 2019, I was invited to participate in a symposium organised by Red EMPIRIC at the Universidad Miguel Hernández, on questions of empirical research in the criminal justice system. The program for the event is available here and the slides for my talk on Posibilidades Metodológicas para Realizar Sentencing en España here.
Interview by The Guardian
I was interviewed by a journalist from The Guardian, who wrote a news article my study, ‘Does the Crown Court Discriminate Against Muslim-named Offenders?’, published by The British Journal of Criminology.
Ministry of Justice - Analytical Services Seminar Series
In December 2018, I was invited to present findings from my project, ‘Tackling selection Bias in Sentencing Data Analysis: A New Approach Based on Mixture Models, Expert Elicitation Techniques, and Bayesian Statistics’, at the Ministry of Justice. Slides are available here.
City Law School & Sentencing Council
In November 2018, I was invited to give a talk at the seminar ‘Collaborating to Shape the Future of Sentencing Research - Innovation and Impact’, organised by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales and the City University Law School. The program is available here and my slides here.
Universities of Helsinki and Eastern Finland
In January 2018, I was invited to give a talk at the Law & Statistics conference held at the University of Helsinki and at a Law & Society seminar at the University of Eastern Finland. The former was titled ‘Exploring Disparities in Sentencing Using Multilevel Modelling: Opportunities and Pitfalls’, the latter was ‘Sentencing Disparities in the Crown Court: Look at the Judge Before the Court’. Slides are available here and here. During my visit, I was also interviewed by a regional newspaper (Karjalainen), which published a news piece about my study - at least, I hope so, as it is in Finnish.
Ministry of Justice - Analytical Services Seminar Series
In 2014 I was invited to present findings from ‘The Impact of the 2011 Assault Guideline on Sentence Consistency’ at the MoJ Analytical Services Seminar series, and the University of Oxford School of Law Sentencing Seminar. Slides are available here.
University of Sussex - School of Economics PhD Seminar
In 2013 I was invited to present my research on ‘The Impact of the 2011 Assault Guideline on Sentence Consistency’ at the University of Sussex School of Economics PhD Seminar. This was the first time my research received interest outside my own university, which felt like an important milestone. Slides are available here.
Sentencing Council - ESRC PhD Internship
During my PhD, I undertook a six-month internship at the Sentencing Council for England and Wales. During that time, I gave several talks to Council analysts about the methods I was using in my thesis, including missing data adjustments and multilevel modelling.
University of Manchester - Cathie Marsh Centre for Survey Research
As part of my PhD (2010 to 2014), I gave several presentations on measurement error in survey data at the Cathie Marsh Centre for Survey Research seminar series. For example, I presented ‘Measurement Error and Its Implications’ and ‘SIMEX and other methods for the adjustment of measurement error’. Slides are available here and here.