Claire has a long-standing interest in examining the link between experiences of the state child care system and later involvement in the youth and criminal justice systems, with a particular focus on challenging negative stereotypes that have traditionally linked children in care with trouble.

Claire is regularly invited to advise not-for-profit and lived-experience led organisations, as well as the Ministry of Justice, Youth Justice Board and HM Prison & Probation Service. Reflecting her commitment to translating robust research evidence into real-world impact, she frequently contributes to calls for evidence to select committee and other official inquiries.

She was previously Principal Investigator on the cross-university Nuffield Foundation-funded study, Disrupting the Routes between Care and Custody for Girls and Women. Prior research has also explored the experiences of care leavers in the community supervised on an Intensive Alternative to Custody Order, as well as the experiences of young people in prison.

More broadly, Claire is interested in processes of criminalisation and victimisation, youth justice, women’s imprisonment, gendered pathways to offending and the link between state systems of care and punishment across the generations.

Claire’s teaching specialisms reflect her research interests - she teaches around Youth Justice and Gendered Harm and Justice, and contributes to teaching across the undergraduate and postgraduate Criminology programmes.

She is Programme lead and Dissertation co-ordinator for the Criminology Master’s programmes, as well as PhD subject lead for Criminology.

Claire Taylor

Dr Claire Fitzpatrick is a Reader in Criminology, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Youth Justice lead for Lancaster’s Centre for Child and Family Justice Research. Claire graduated with First Class Honours from Lancaster University, before completing her ESRC-funded PhD here in 2002. Prior to working at Lancaster, Claire worked at the University of Nottingham and the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate.

Claire is currently Co-investigator on a Joy Welch Trust-funded study on perspectives on the interface between care proceedings and the criminal justice system. She is also the consultant on a Youth Endowment Fund-funded study on Care Experience and Violence.