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Professor Julia Davidson

Professor in Criminology and Sociology

Professor Julia Davidson Areas of expertise

Find out more about Professor Julia Davidson

Overview

Professor Davidson has conducted a considerable amount of research in the criminal justice area and is known for her work with violent offenders and victims of sex abuse. During the past 20 years, she has carried out research projects looking into serious, violent and sexual crime, working with young victims of crime, as well as the police, Crown Prosecution Service and judiciary. She has extensive experience of applied policy and practice research.

Professor Davidson is a Co-Director of the newly formed Centre for Abuse and Trauma Studies (CATS) with Professor Antonia Bifulco, Royal Holloway University of London. The centre was set up to further the understanding, treatment and policy implications of abuse and trauma. Current research includes the first European EC-funded study exploring Internet offenders' online grooming practices. The study includes partners from Italy, Norway and Belgium. Professor Davidson has also recently worked with the Metropolitan Police Authority and Crimestoppers to explore child safety on the internet and published a book "Child Sexual Abuse, Media Representation and Government Reactions".

Other recent funded work includes a study evaluating the impact of community treatment programmes on convicted child sexual abusers, undertaken on behalf of the National Probation Service (2003) and a study funded by the Metropolitan Police Authority and Crimestoppers which explored child safety on the internet and the role of the police in raising awareness among children about sexual abuse (2005). Professor Davidson has also carried out an evaluation and overview of international approaches to risk assessment and a management of internet sex offenders funded by the Risk Management Authority (Scotland 2007); an exploration of young victims experiences and perceptions of the investigative process, funded by the Metropolitan Police Child Abuse Investigation Command (with Professor Bifulco, 2007 ongoing) and a survey exploring young people's online risk-taking behaviour and awareness of internet safety mesages, funded by the National Audit Office and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (publication due November 2009).

Professor Davidson is an experienced media commentator providing expert advice on criminal justice issues to journalists and has worked extensively with the media including ITN News, Sky News, BBC News, BBC Radio 4 and Al Jazerra News.

 

Qualifications

Year gained Subject
2002 PhD Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science.
1988 MSc Criminal Justice Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science.
1987 BA (Hons) Sociology with professional studies, North East London Polytechnic.

Research

 Books

Davidson, J. (3/2008) 'Child Sexual Abuse, Media Representation and Government Reactions' (Series Eds D. Downes and P. Rock, London School of Economics)Routledge. ISBN: 978-1-90438569-1 (4th book in social policy series)

Davidson, J  and Gottschalk, P  'Online Groomers Profiling, Policing and Prevention'Russell House (2010)

Davidson, J and Gottschalk, P (Eds) (2010)  'Internet Child Abuse: Current Research, Policy & Practice' Routledge

Davidson, J  and Hammerton, C  'International Perspectives on Child Victimisation Routledge (Forthcoming 7/2011)

 Davidson, Julia C. (2008) Child sexual abuse: media representations and government reactions.2 Abingdon, U.K. : Routledge-Cavendish. 178p. ISBN 9781904385684

Davidson, Julia and Gottschalk, Petter (2008) Digital forensics in law enforcement: the case of online victimisation of children.3 Electronic Government: an international journal, 5(4), pp. 445-451. ISSN (print) 1740-7494

Davidson, Julia and Martellozzo, Elena (2008) Protecting children online: towards a safer internet.4 In: Letherby, Gayle , Williams, Kate , Birch, Philip and Cain, Maureen, (eds.) Sex as crime? Cullompton, U.K. : Willan. pp. 338-355. ISBN 9781843922681

Davidson, Julia C. and Martellozzo, Elena (2008) Protecting vulnerable young people in cyberspace from sexual abuse: raising awareness and responding globally.5 Police Practice and Research, 9(4), pp. 277-289. ISSN (print) 1561-4263

Davidson, Julia (2007) Current practice and research into internet sex offending.6 (Project Report) Paisley : Risk Management Authority. 88 p.

Davidson, Julia , Bifulco, Antonia , Thomas, Geraldine and Ramsay, Margaret (2006) Child victims of sexual abuse: children's experience of the investigative process in the criminal justice system.7 Practice, 18(4), pp. 247-263. ISSN (print) 0950-3153

Davidson, Julia (2006) Victims speak: comparing child sexual abusers' and child victims' accounts, perceptions, and interpretations of sexual abuse.8 Victims & Offenders, 1(2), pp. 159-174. ISSN (print) 1556-4886

Davidson, Julia and Martellozzo, Elena (2005) Protecting children from sex offenders online: when strangers become 'virtual friends'.9 In: Safety & security in a networked world: balancing cyber-rights & responsibilities; 8-10 Sep 2005, Oxford, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Davidson, Julia C. and Martellozzo, Elena (2004) Educating children about sexual abuse and evaluating the Metropolitan police safer surfing programme.10 (Project Report) London, U.K. : Metropolitan Police.

Major Research Collaborations

Professor Davidson, a Co-Director of the Centre for Abuse and Trauma Studies, has teamed up with NatCen to lead a group of experts from across Europe in a research project that will study the characteristics and behaviour of sexual offenders who have used the internet to groom young people. The project will run until 2012 and is sponsered by the European Commission Safer Internet Plus Programme. Researchers will conduct indepth interviews with online groomers in the UK, Italy, Belgium and Norway.