Dr Sarah Pemberton

Associate Professor - Criminology

Email:: sarah.pemberton@bcu.ac.uk

Having initially studied Social Policy as an undergraduate Sarah became immersed in the study of the social world, this served as the foundation for an unrelenting interest in social research which she pursues to this day. Sarah’s teaching and research interests are very much interwoven and are currently concerned with understanding and contextualizing domestic and sexual violence.

For Sarah, academia is a space within which she can make a contribution to society through education whilst continuing to seek new knowledge through her research. It is this combination of skills and the variety of the many elements of academic life which attracted Sarah to Higher Education. It is challenging and rewarding work which, through time in the classroom, creates a unique opportunity to unlock the same sense of academic curiosity in others.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Teaching

Research

Postgraduate Supervision

Ian Thomas (Director of Studies) Forging Pathways to Healing from Childhood Trauma.
Lisa Edge (Director of Studies) Gendered Trauma in the Lives of Criminal Justice-Involved Women who have used Violence. 
Emma Pickering, Agency responses to technology-facilitated stalking and barriers to accessing support for victims.
Lynette Lee-Messenger, Religious Women’s Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).
Zainab Ibrahim, Does the cost-of-living crisis further compel street- based female sex workers to work with dangerous and risky clients?
Jessica Hughes, The insidious nature of fiction – Challenging the existence of rape mythology within the Criminal Justice System. A feminist investigation into the adoption of rape myths within the Criminal Justice System and the subsequent implications on the treatment of rape victims.
Je’ Nice Harris, Policing and Community: A Critical Race Theory exploration of Community Policing and Black experiences in communities within the West Midlands region.
Steven Wadley, Evaluating the impact of the Special Constable role; well-being, resilience and academic attainment of Professional Policing students.
Loukas Ntanos, Murderabilia: An analysis of the commodification of homicide in England and Wales.
Craig Kelly, Violent Realities: An ethnographic exploration of violence within the lives of rough sleepers in the United Kingdom.
Max Hart, Consuming Violence: Conceptualizing Engagement with Violent Content as a Contemporary form of Leisure.
Thaiba Salim, Do Domestic Violence Laws Reduce Harm? A Social Policy Evaluation of Legislation, Funding and Practice in England and Wales.
Alex Black, Hetero-Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimisation and Offending of sexually minoritised men.
Laura Riley (Director of Studies), Silent child protectors: The voices of non-professionals who support those with sexual offending histories (completed).
Tiffany Cater, Stalking behaviours among young people: an enquiry into the aetiology, nature and extent of stalking behaviours in 16-24-year-olds (completed).
Morag Kennedy, It’s a Family Affair: Victims’ families accounts of intimate partner homicide, the ‘web of abuse’ and the role of media (completed).
Dan Rusu, Life after Life, Beyond the Gate: The Construction and Reconstruction of Identify Amongst Homicide Offenders (completed).
Cristiana Cardoso (Director of Studies), Improving the provision of services independent from the CJS for people with a sexual attraction to minors, people at risk of committing CSA and people who have committed CSA (completed).

Publications

Journal Articles

Kewley, S., Pemberton, S., Mydlowski, L., Burnside, P., & Horne, A. (2026). A Desistance Practice Framework to support police professionals working with people with sexual convictions. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 84
Pemberton, S., Kewley, S., & Mydlowski, L. (2023). The Police as Formal Agents of Change: Assisting Desistance in Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offences. Journal of Community Safety and Well-being, 8(4), 191-196.
Kewley, S., Pemberton, S., Black, B., & Socolof, M. (2023). Editorial Introduction to the Journal of Sexual Aggression Special Issue on Sibling Sexual Abuse. Journal of Sexual Aggression. Pp.303-305. 
Wilson, D., Yardley, E., & Pemberton, S. (2016), ‘The ‘Dunblane Massacre’ as a ‘Photosensitive Plate’, Crime, Media, Culture, 13(1), 55-68.
Weich, S., Griffith L., Commander, M., Bradby, H., Sashidharan, S.P., Pemberton, S., Jasani, R., & Bhui K.S. (2012). Experiences of acute mental health care in an ethnically diverse inner city: qualitative interview study, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47(1), 119-128.
Blagden, N. & Pemberton, S. (2010). The challenge in conducting qualitative research with convicted sex offenders Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 49(3), 269-281.
Harley, D., Winn, S., Wilcox, P. & Pemberton, S. (2007). The Role of SMS Text Messaging in Supporting Transition to University. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 44(3),229-241.
Winn, S., and Wilcox, P., Harley, D. & Pemberton, S. (2007). Reconceptualising Student Motivation: Accounting for the Social Context Beyond the Classroom. LATISS, 3(2), 77-94.

Books

Kewley, S., Pemberton, S., & Rahman, M. (2021) Preventing Sexual Harm. London: Routledge.

Book Chapters

Kewley, S., Pemberton, S., Mydlowski, L., Burnside, P. and Horne, A. (2026) ‘A case study outlining the co-development of twelve desistance principles needed to help reduce sexual reoffending’. In: E. Halford ed., Building an Outstanding Police Service: Understanding the Police Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Legitimacy (PEEL) Inspection Framework.
Kewley, S. & Pemberton, S. (2026). Examining the tensions between policing people convicted of sexual offending and promoting the desistance process. In: N. Blagden, B. Winder. K. Hocken, R. Lievesley, C. Harper, H. Swaby and P. Banyard eds., Sexual Crime and Community Reintegration. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Pemberton, S. & Kewley, S. (2025). Policing those who sexually offend. In: M. Hart, J. Bahadur Lamb, A. Lynes, J. Treadwell and C. Kelly, eds., ‘50 Facts Everyone Should Know About the Police’. The Bristol University Press, University of Bristol.
Blagden, N., Pemberton, S. & Collier, C.J. (2012) Adult Rapists. In: B. Winder and P. Banyard, eds., A Psychologist's Casebook of Crime: From Arson to Voyeurism. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.