Before joining Middlesex in 2007 I was an academic researcher at Goldsmiths College and before that at Imperial College. My main areas of research were young people living in state care, illicit drug use, and youth transitions to adulthood. I held funding awards from the ESRC and Home Office to examine the lives of care leavers making the transition to independent living. My doctoral research was an ethnography of rave nightclub culture and drug dealing. I currently research the magistracy and transformations to summary justice in the lower criminal courts.
My main areas of teaching are the criminal courts and justice administration. I am the Programme Leader for the MSc. Criminology with Forensic Psychology. I lead the module CRM4204 Critical Issues in Criminal Justice and am the joint module leader for CRM2530 Criminal Courts and Prisons and CRM2540 Institutions of Criminal Justice. I also teach the first year module CRM1273 Researching Crime in the City. I supervise UG and PG dissertations and doctoral research across a range of topics.
Authored books
Refereed articles
Gray, N., Ward, J. and Fogerty, J. (2019) Transforming Learning through University and Prison Partnerships: Reflections from ‘Learning Together’ Pedagogical Practice. Journal of Prison Education and Re-entry, 6, 1, 7-24.
Chapters in edited collections
Official Reports
Ward, J., Gray, N. and Cracknell, M. (2017) Transformative Learning Through University and Prison Partnerships. Final report to Centre for Academic Practice (CAPE). London: Middlesex University.
Conferences
Ward, J. (2016) Problem-solving Justice in England and Wales. Invited seminar presentation Montaigne Centre of Utrecht University, The Netherlands, 16th & 17th June.
Blogposts
Ward, J. (2015) Changing Prisons in Challenging Times. Middlesex Minds blogpost- 27 March 2015. www.mdxminds.com
Membership of Professional Bodies
English, basic French, Spanish, Dutch, beginners Croatian
Curriculum/subject area
Criminal courts and prisons, courtroom decision-making, sentencing policy and practice, criminal justice institutions, prison and university education partnerships, researching the city.
I am the Programme Leader for the MSc. Criminology with Forensic Psychology. I teach the modules 'Criminal Courts and Prisons', 'Crititcal Issues in Criminal Justice', 'Institutions of Criminal Justice' and 'Researching Crime in th City'.
My current research interests are sentencing and punishment in the criminal courts, sentencing law reform, 18-24 year old offenders, social justice meets criminal justice, problem-solving justice, the lower criminal courts.
Other research interests are comparative criminal justice processes, specialist courts and 'therapeutic juisprudence', young people accommodated within the state childcare system, and careleavers transition to independent living.
Previous research and publications are on illegal drug markets. My doctoral research was an urban ethnography on the 'rave' club drug culture published as 'Flashback: Drugs and Dealing in the Golden Age of the London Rave Culture' (2010). It is an account of the organisational features of drug trading among different friendship groups and within different London nightclubs in the mid to late 1990s.
Doctoral students are welcome in the following areas:
Gray, Natalie and Ward, Jennifer and Fogarty, Jenny (2019) Transformative learning through university and prison partnerships: reflections from ‘Learning Together’ pedagogical practice. Journal of Prison Education and Reentry , 6 (1). pp. 7-24. ISSN 2387-2306
Ward, Jennifer (2019) Problem-solving criminal justice: developments in England and Wales. Utrecht Law Review , 14 (3). pp. 7-18. ISSN 1871-515X
Ward, Jennifer and Gray, Natalie and Cracknell, Matthew (2017) Transformative learning through university and prison partnership: an evaluation of the Middlesex University and HMP Wandsworth Prison module. In: Middlesex University Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2017, 08 Sept 2017, Middlesex University, London, UK.
Ward, Jennifer (2016) Transforming summary justice: Modernisation in the lower criminal courts. Routledge Frontiers of Criminal Justice . Routledge, London and New York. ISBN 9781138846739
Ward, Jennifer and Pearson, Geoffrey (2016) Drugs, care and sex work: sex and survival. In: Mischief, Morality and Mobs: Essays in Honour of Geoffrey Pearson. Hobbs, Dick , ed. Routledge Advances in Ethnography . Routledge, London, pp. 195-207. ISBN 9781138679733
2018 Principle applicant (Jenni Ward), Prisoners’ Learning Experiences in a University/Prison Partnership: Motivations, Future Aspirations and Reintegration Pathways. Middlesex University, School of Law Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) £4380.00
2017 Principal applicant (Jenni Ward) Evaluation of Middlesex ‘Learning Together’ module in HM Wandsworth Reform Prison. Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE) Middlesex University £9204.00
2016 Principal applicant (Jenni Ward) Prison Reform, Rehabilitation and Reintegration. Middlesex University, School of Law Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee- Impact Case Study Fund £2500.00
2016 Principal applicant (Jenni Ward) Prison Reform, Prisoner Experiences and Reintegration Pathways, Middlesex University, School of Law Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee £1900.00
2014 – Principal applicant (Jenni Ward) Transforming Summary Justice, Middlesex University, School of Law Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee £1300.
2007 - ESRC Training Bursary £1000 - Training in the use of NVIVO7 provided by SdG Associates.
2002 – Principal applicant and grant holder (Jenni Ward), co-applicant (Geoffrey Pearson) – Economic and Social Research Council. Tracking Care Leavers As They Move to Independence. £41,392.11 Reference no. R000223982
2001 – Principal applicant and grant holder (Jenni Ward), co-applicant (Geoffrey Pearson) Home Office Drugs and Alcohol Research Unit. Care Leavers as a Group Vulnerable to Drug Use. £98,239.98�0�a
