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Professor Helen Johnston

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Helen Johnston

Professor of Criminology


Penal Servitude: Convicts and long-term imprisonment, 1853-1948 (2022)
Book
Johnston, H., Godfrey, B., & Cox, D. J. (2022). Penal Servitude: Convicts and long-term imprisonment, 1853-1948. Montreal; London: McGill-Queen's University Press

Penal Servitude is the first comprehensive study to examine the convict prison system that housed all those sentenced to penal servitude during this time. The research details the administration and evolution of the system, from its creation in the 1... Read More about Penal Servitude: Convicts and long-term imprisonment, 1853-1948.

Corrupting and saving: Moral contamination, prison education and prison history (2021)
Journal Article
Johnston, H. (2021). Corrupting and saving: Moral contamination, prison education and prison history. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 60(S1), 109-118. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12434

This article examines the ways in which prison has been seen as both a ‘school of crime’ and a school of reform; a place for potential further corruption, or through education in prison, a route away from criminality. It explores the methods used, si... Read More about Corrupting and saving: Moral contamination, prison education and prison history.

'It was like an animal in pain': Institutional thoughtlessness and bereavement in prison (2020)
Journal Article
Wilson, M., Johnston, H., & Walker, L. (in press). 'It was like an animal in pain': Institutional thoughtlessness and bereavement in prison. Criminology & criminal Justice, https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895820930755

Using the concept of institutional thoughtlessness, this article examines a range of issues embedded within daily prison life which have a detrimental effect upon the lives of those bereaved during a prison sentence. Drawing on in-depth qualitative r... Read More about 'It was like an animal in pain': Institutional thoughtlessness and bereavement in prison.

The dynamics of contemporary slavery and conflict : agency, asylum and accountability (2018)
Thesis
Kidd, A. S. (2018). The dynamics of contemporary slavery and conflict : agency, asylum and accountability. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4221343

This thesis offers a new approach to understanding contemporary slavery by focusing on the root causes rather than on the end result of the enslavement. Adopting this approach allows for a move away from the current tendency of homogenising victims o... Read More about The dynamics of contemporary slavery and conflict : agency, asylum and accountability.

Punishment: Incarceration and the death penalty (2018)
Book Chapter
Johnston, H. (2018). Punishment: Incarceration and the death penalty. In D. Nash, & A. Kilday (Eds.), Murder and Mayhem: Crime in Twentieth Century Britain (243-270). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Imprisoned mothers in Victorian England, 1853–1900: Motherhood, identity and the convict prison (2018)
Journal Article
Johnston, H. (2019). Imprisoned mothers in Victorian England, 1853–1900: Motherhood, identity and the convict prison. Criminology & criminal Justice, 19(2), 215-231. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895818757833

This article explores the experiences of imprisoned mothers in the Victorian convict prison system. It argues that motherhood, of central importance to the ideals of Victorian femininity, was disrupted and fractured by women's long-term imprisonment... Read More about Imprisoned mothers in Victorian England, 1853–1900: Motherhood, identity and the convict prison.

'Convict Prisons', 'Local Prisons' and 'Prison Reform' (2017)
Book Chapter
Johnston, H. (2017). 'Convict Prisons', 'Local Prisons' and 'Prison Reform'. In J. Turner, P. Taylor, S. Morley, & K. Corteen (Eds.), A Companion to the History of Crime and Criminal Justice. Bristol: Policy Press