Criminology Volunteering Opportunities at Chester

During my undergraduate degree in Criminology and Psychology, my lecturer talked about volunteering opportunities within local Youth Justice Services. I was in my second year and keen to get involved with opportunities that might be of interest, and also support my future employment prospects. I have continued my voluntary role within my local Youth Justice Service since then acting as a Community Panel Member and Chair on referral order panels. This role entails working with young people to devise a contract of work they will undertake as part of their order and reviewing their progress as a community representative. I received initial training for this role and we have ongoing support and training throughout.

The role has enabled me to be part of the delivery of Youth Justice Services alongside my academic work as I progressed through to Master’s study and completing my PhD in 2019. Over this period, I have seen the ongoing evolution of the Youth Justice System in practice and it enables me to better understand the views and perspectives of young people involved within the Service, alongside practitioners and other community members. I also have research experience from my Master’s up to current projects within Youth Justice Services.

The University of Chester has an established partnership with Edge Hill University and Cheshire Youth Justice Services. This has facilitated a number of student and research opportunities. From a student perspective, Cheshire Youth Justice Service offer placements for students within the Level 5 Work Based Learning module. Students will be based within the Service and build knowledge and skills that will be transferable within the workplace. All students also are able to apply for volunteering opportunities within Cheshire Youth Justice Services.

As part of the partnership, the University of Chester hosted an online conference in 2021 entitled: Knowledge Transfer Partnerships between Youth Justice and academia. The event was supported by the Association of Youth Offending Team Managers (AYM) and sponsored by Edge Hill’s Law and Criminology Department and the Institute for Social Responsibility (ISR) (Edge Hill University). There was a range of speakers across academia and practice. The event was very popular and has resulted in a book co-authored by Dr Sean Creaney from Edge Hill University, Gareth Jones Head of Service Cheshire Youth Services and myself entitled: Knowledge and skills partnerships in youth justice due to be submitted in 2024. As part of the partnership, I attend research group meetings with practitioners within the service where there are guest speakers and we discuss best practice. This led to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (2021: 6) reporting that the service’s use of evidence and academic research to develop practice and service was some of the strongest they had seen. 

In 2021, Dr Dean Wilkinson, Charlene Crossley, both from the Institute of Policing, and I conducted research within Cheshire Youth Justice Services to explore the experiences of practitioners and young people during the pandemic when there was a move away from face-to-face working. The research was conducted using remote methods, this included creative arts-based methods with children and young people whereby an artist worked alongside them to co-create lyrics. This work has been published and links to it are available on my staff profile page.

As a lecturer, I value the experience of both volunteering and researching in this area. The knowledge generated is valuable and forms part of my teaching within the Level 4 Contemporary Youth Justice module. I encourage students to engage with volunteering opportunities that they may be interested in throughout the programme, across areas of interest including Youth Justice, Policing etc. There are a range of options available and the University of Chester has a dedicated Volunteering and Mentoring Department that can support students with this and awards can be given to students for their work. Volunteering can also link to decisions about placements for the Work Based Learning Module in Level 5 and we have links with local agencies. As it did for me, volunteering can provide positive outcomes in the community and as part of personal progression.

Find out more about studying Criminology at the University of Chester.