Kate Gooch is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. She joined the University of Bath in 2019 having previously worked in the Law Schools of the Universities of Birmingham and Leicester.

Kate’s principal research interests are in prisons, youth justice and the criminal law, and the use of qualitative and ethnographic research methods. After completing her doctoral research on the experiences of teenage boys in young offender institutions, she has continued to undertake ethnographic and qualitative research within prisons. Her research not only focuses on how prisons can be safe, secure and rehabilitative, but also the environments, organisational cultures, and forms of leadership that make this possible. This has included empirical research on:

• prison violence and homicide
• self-harm and suicide in prison
• drug use and drug dealing in prison
• debt and prison illicit economies
• gangs, organised crime and corruption
• absconding and temporary release failures

Her interest in harm and criminality is matched by a sustained interest in desistance, rehabilitation and the importance of justice, hope, dignity, and integrity within prison. She has conducted research across the prison estate, including: Close Supervision Centres, High Security Prisons, Long-Term Training Prisons, Reception Prisons, Category C Prisons, Open Prisons, Young Offender Institutions and in Youth Custody. She has also focused on the experiences of specific cohorts, including: young adults, children, women, veterans, care-experienced prisoners, and men convicted of sex offences. Kate is also interested in the perspectives and experiences of prison staff, managers, governors and directors, and is currently undertaking a study of prison leadership.

Kate’s research has been funded by the Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, ESRC, Ministry of Justice, Serco, HM Prison and Probation Service and the Police and Crime Commissioners of West Midlands Police, Warwickshire Police, Staffordshire Police and West Mercia Police. Whilst her work is predominantly based in England and Wales, she has also conducted empirical research in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Of note, from 2015, Kate has undertaken the first longitudinal study of the opening of HMP Berwyn and has served on the Non-Executive Director Committee at HMP Fosse Way since opening. Her first book, Prison Violence: The Search for Recognition and Respect, was published in 2025. She is currently developing two new manuscripts, one entitled Prison Homicide: Death, Justice and the Human Condition and another entitled Prisons and their Rehabilitation.

As part of her commitment to knowledge exchange and dialogue, she regularly presents her research as part of events organised by HM Prison and Probation Service, the Youth Justice Board, the Ministry of Justice, and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons. In addition, she is regularly called on to train prison senior management teams, drawing on her research on prison leadership and culture. With support from ESRC Impact Acceleration Account funding, she has been seconded to HM Prison and Probation Service to support the opening of HMP Berwyn (2015-2017) and to develop policy and practice in prison safety (2023-2025). She has given oral and written evidence to the House of Common’s Justice Committee and the Justice and Home Affairs Committee. She has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed programme and her research has been featured in Inside Time.

Kate currently sits on the editorial board for the British Journal of Criminology, Incarceration, and Theoretical Criminology having previously served on the editorial board of the Prison Service Journal (2014-2026).

Within the University, Kate has been Deputy Head for the Department of Social and Policy Sciences (2021-2025) and twice served as Director of Studies for Criminology. With Professor Sarah Moore, Kate has developed a pilot academic leadership programme for mid-career researchers in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences.

Kate welcomes applications from students interested in doctoral research on prisons, youth justice, criminal justice and criminal law. She is particularly interested in applications that incorporate empirical and/or socio-legal research.