Susie Hulley
Biographic Data
| ID | 361040 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Susie Hulley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Susie |
| FAMILY NAME | Hulley |
| SIGNATURE | HULLEY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cambridge |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6467-9134 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 99 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The Moral Weight of Murder
The act of murder raises deep moral questions about how a person could kill another human-being. Yet little is known about how individuals implicated in murders morally reflect on their actions. Based on research with men and women convicted of murder when young in England and Wales, this article exposes the differential moral burden of murder offences: a ‘moral weight’ that varies along a continuum from light to heavy. ‘Light’ moral weight is as…
Joint enterprise in England and Wales
The law in England and Wales (as in Australia and other jurisdictions) enables a person to be convicted of an offence committed by another using complicity liability, sometimes termed 'joint enterprise'.In England and Wales, 'joint enterprise' has been widely criticised for: failing to distinguish between the moral and legal culpability of the person who commits the substantive offence and those on the periphery of it; being disproportionality ap…
Trajectories of hope/lessness among men and women in the late stage of a life sentence
Drawing on Snyder's ‘hope theory’ as a conceptual framework, this article examines the hope narratives of men and women at the ‘late stage’ of a life sentence. The article aims to bridge the existing gap between jurisprudence and sociological accounts on hope and life imprisonment by extending this debate to men and women serving reducible life sentences in England and Wales, for whom release is not guaranteed but assumed to be attainable. Throug…
Silence, joint enterprise and the legal trap
The so-called ‘wall of silence’ presents a threat to successful police investigations and criminal trials. Explanations for it have focused on cultural narratives, including distrust in the police, a ‘no snitching’ culture and manipulative ‘professional criminals’. Drawing on a study of serious multi-handed violence and ‘joint enterprise’ as a legal response, this article highlights the role of the law, and its agents, in generating silence among…
Life Imprisonment from Young Adulthood
This book is based on a major ESRC-funded study of prisoners serving life sentences of 15 years or more from early adulthood. It is the largest ever sociological study of long-term imprisonment to be conducted in Europe, reporting on fieldwork undertaken in 24 prisons in England
A ‘good job’ in difficult conditions
‘Joint enterprise’ is described as a ‘dragnet’ that draws disproportionate numbers of black and minority ethnic young men into the criminal justice system in England and Wales. While stereotyping by the police and prosecution has been blamed for this distributive injustice, empirical research on joint enterprise is limited. This article presents the findings from a study of homicide and ‘gang’ detectives in London in which they rebut accusations …
Making Sense of ‘Joint Enterprise’ for Murder
The legal doctrine of ‘joint enterprise’ has been heavily criticized for lacking legitimacy, primarily linked to distributive (in)justice. This paper draws on the narratives of ‘joint enterprise prisoners’ serving long life sentences for murder to address such concerns and extend the discussion to questions of ‘legal legitimacy’. Prisoners who were early in their sentences explicitly rejected the legal legitimacy of joint enterprise, while those …
The Gendered Pains of Life Imprisonment
As many scholars have noted, women remain peripheral in most analyses of the practices and effects of imprisonment. This article aims to redress this pattern by comparing the problems of long-term confinement as experienced by male and female prisoners, and then detailing the most significant and distinctive problems reported by the latter. It begins by reporting data that illustrate that the women report an acutely more painful experience than t…
Suppression, denial, sublimation
The central purpose of the article is to explore the psychic components of the early pains of imprisonment described by male and female prisoners serving very long mandatory life sentences for murder. While there is a strong tradition of documenting prisoners’ adaptations to ‘life inside’, little work in prisons sociology explores how life-sentenced prisoners, specifically those convicted of murder, reactively respond and adjust to the early year…
Re-examining the Problems of Long-term Imprisonment
Drawing on an amended version of a survey employed in three previous studies, this article reports the problems experienced by 294 male prisoners serving very long life sentences received when aged 25 or under. The broad findings are consistent with previous work, including few differences being found between the problems experienced as most and least severe by prisoners at different sentence stages. By grouping the problems into conceptual dimen…
What is anti-social behaviour? An empirical study of the impact of age on interpretations
Staff‐Prisoner Relationships, Staff Professionalism, and the Use of Authority in Public‐ and Private‐Sector Prisons
Prison privatization has generally been associated with developments in neoliberal punishment. However, relatively little is known about the specific impact of privatization on the daily life of prisoners, including areas that are particularly salient not just to debates about neoliberal penality, but the wider reconfiguration of public service provision and frontline work. Drawing on a study of values, practices, and quality of life in five priv…
Heavy-light, absent-present
SinceKing andMcDermott (1995), followingDownes (1988), defined the psychological oppressiveness of incarceration in terms of 'weight', little has been written about the 'weight of imprisonment'. None the less, it is generally assumed that prisons that are 'light' are preferable to those that are 'heavy' - in part because of an assumption among many penologists that power, and its application, is dangerous and antagonistic. This article does not d…
Staff culture, use of authority and prisoner quality of life in public and private sector prisons
Drawing on data collected in five private sector and two public sector prisons, this article highlights the complex relationship between prison staff culture and prisoner quality of life. Specifically, it explores the link between the attitudes of prison staff and their behaviour, particularly in terms of their use of authority, and seeks to explain the somewhat paradoxical finding that those prisons rated most positively by prisoners were those …
Respect in prisons
Interpretations of ‘respect’ in prison have tended to be narrow, focusing on courteous and considerate staff–prisoner relationships. In a recent study, we found that respect was defined by prisoners not just in terms of interpersonal relationships but also ‘getting things done’ (what might be called ‘organizational respect’). We expected prisoners in the study, which compared quality of life in public and private sector prisons, to rate private p…
Heavy-light, absent-present
SinceKing andMcDermott (1995), followingDownes (1988), defined the psychological oppressiveness of incarceration in terms of 'weight', little has been written about the 'weight of imprisonment'. None the less, it is generally assumed that prisons that are 'light' are preferable to those that are 'heavy' - in part because of an assumption among many penologists that power, and its application, is dangerous and antagonistic. This article does not d…
Staff‐Prisoner Relationships, Staff Professionalism, and the Use of Authority in Public‐ and Private‐Sector Prisons
Prison privatization has generally been associated with developments in neoliberal punishment. However, relatively little is known about the specific impact of privatization on the daily life of prisoners, including areas that are particularly salient not just to debates about neoliberal penality, but the wider reconfiguration of public service provision and frontline work. Drawing on a study of values, practices, and quality of life in five priv…
Suppression, denial, sublimation
The central purpose of the article is to explore the psychic components of the early pains of imprisonment described by male and female prisoners serving very long mandatory life sentences for murder. While there is a strong tradition of documenting prisoners’ adaptations to ‘life inside’, little work in prisons sociology explores how life-sentenced prisoners, specifically those convicted of murder, reactively respond and adjust to the early year…
Re-examining the Problems of Long-term Imprisonment
Drawing on an amended version of a survey employed in three previous studies, this article reports the problems experienced by 294 male prisoners serving very long life sentences received when aged 25 or under. The broad findings are consistent with previous work, including few differences being found between the problems experienced as most and least severe by prisoners at different sentence stages. By grouping the problems into conceptual dimen…
Respect in prisons
Interpretations of ‘respect’ in prison have tended to be narrow, focusing on courteous and considerate staff–prisoner relationships. In a recent study, we found that respect was defined by prisoners not just in terms of interpersonal relationships but also ‘getting things done’ (what might be called ‘organizational respect’). We expected prisoners in the study, which compared quality of life in public and private sector prisons, to rate private p…
A ‘good job’ in difficult conditions
‘Joint enterprise’ is described as a ‘dragnet’ that draws disproportionate numbers of black and minority ethnic young men into the criminal justice system in England and Wales. While stereotyping by the police and prosecution has been blamed for this distributive injustice, empirical research on joint enterprise is limited. This article presents the findings from a study of homicide and ‘gang’ detectives in London in which they rebut accusations …
The Gendered Pains of Life Imprisonment
As many scholars have noted, women remain peripheral in most analyses of the practices and effects of imprisonment. This article aims to redress this pattern by comparing the problems of long-term confinement as experienced by male and female prisoners, and then detailing the most significant and distinctive problems reported by the latter. It begins by reporting data that illustrate that the women report an acutely more painful experience than t…
Making Sense of ‘Joint Enterprise’ for Murder
The legal doctrine of ‘joint enterprise’ has been heavily criticized for lacking legitimacy, primarily linked to distributive (in)justice. This paper draws on the narratives of ‘joint enterprise prisoners’ serving long life sentences for murder to address such concerns and extend the discussion to questions of ‘legal legitimacy’. Prisoners who were early in their sentences explicitly rejected the legal legitimacy of joint enterprise, while those …
Trajectories of hope/lessness among men and women in the late stage of a life sentence
Drawing on Snyder's ‘hope theory’ as a conceptual framework, this article examines the hope narratives of men and women at the ‘late stage’ of a life sentence. The article aims to bridge the existing gap between jurisprudence and sociological accounts on hope and life imprisonment by extending this debate to men and women serving reducible life sentences in England and Wales, for whom release is not guaranteed but assumed to be attainable. Throug…
Silence, joint enterprise and the legal trap
The so-called ‘wall of silence’ presents a threat to successful police investigations and criminal trials. Explanations for it have focused on cultural narratives, including distrust in the police, a ‘no snitching’ culture and manipulative ‘professional criminals’. Drawing on a study of serious multi-handed violence and ‘joint enterprise’ as a legal response, this article highlights the role of the law, and its agents, in generating silence among…
What is anti-social behaviour? An empirical study of the impact of age on interpretations
Staff culture, use of authority and prisoner quality of life in public and private sector prisons
Drawing on data collected in five private sector and two public sector prisons, this article highlights the complex relationship between prison staff culture and prisoner quality of life. Specifically, it explores the link between the attitudes of prison staff and their behaviour, particularly in terms of their use of authority, and seeks to explain the somewhat paradoxical finding that those prisons rated most positively by prisoners were those …
Respect in prisons
Interpretations of ‘respect’ in prison have tended to be narrow, focusing on courteous and considerate staff–prisoner relationships. In a recent study, we found that respect was defined by prisoners not just in terms of interpersonal relationships but also ‘getting things done’ (what might be called ‘organizational respect’). We expected prisoners in the study, which compared quality of life in public and private sector prisons, to rate private p…
What is anti-social behaviour? An empirical study of the impact of age on interpretations
Staff‐Prisoner Relationships, Staff Professionalism, and the Use of Authority in Public‐ and Private‐Sector Prisons
Prison privatization has generally been associated with developments in neoliberal punishment. However, relatively little is known about the specific impact of privatization on the daily life of prisoners, including areas that are particularly salient not just to debates about neoliberal penality, but the wider reconfiguration of public service provision and frontline work. Drawing on a study of values, practices, and quality of life in five priv…
Heavy-light, absent-present
SinceKing andMcDermott (1995), followingDownes (1988), defined the psychological oppressiveness of incarceration in terms of 'weight', little has been written about the 'weight of imprisonment'. None the less, it is generally assumed that prisons that are 'light' are preferable to those that are 'heavy' - in part because of an assumption among many penologists that power, and its application, is dangerous and antagonistic. This article does not d…
Suppression, denial, sublimation
The central purpose of the article is to explore the psychic components of the early pains of imprisonment described by male and female prisoners serving very long mandatory life sentences for murder. While there is a strong tradition of documenting prisoners’ adaptations to ‘life inside’, little work in prisons sociology explores how life-sentenced prisoners, specifically those convicted of murder, reactively respond and adjust to the early year…
Re-examining the Problems of Long-term Imprisonment
Drawing on an amended version of a survey employed in three previous studies, this article reports the problems experienced by 294 male prisoners serving very long life sentences received when aged 25 or under. The broad findings are consistent with previous work, including few differences being found between the problems experienced as most and least severe by prisoners at different sentence stages. By grouping the problems into conceptual dimen…
The Gendered Pains of Life Imprisonment
As many scholars have noted, women remain peripheral in most analyses of the practices and effects of imprisonment. This article aims to redress this pattern by comparing the problems of long-term confinement as experienced by male and female prisoners, and then detailing the most significant and distinctive problems reported by the latter. It begins by reporting data that illustrate that the women report an acutely more painful experience than t…
Making Sense of ‘Joint Enterprise’ for Murder
The legal doctrine of ‘joint enterprise’ has been heavily criticized for lacking legitimacy, primarily linked to distributive (in)justice. This paper draws on the narratives of ‘joint enterprise prisoners’ serving long life sentences for murder to address such concerns and extend the discussion to questions of ‘legal legitimacy’. Prisoners who were early in their sentences explicitly rejected the legal legitimacy of joint enterprise, while those …
Life Imprisonment from Young Adulthood
This book is based on a major ESRC-funded study of prisoners serving life sentences of 15 years or more from early adulthood. It is the largest ever sociological study of long-term imprisonment to be conducted in Europe, reporting on fieldwork undertaken in 24 prisons in England
A ‘good job’ in difficult conditions
‘Joint enterprise’ is described as a ‘dragnet’ that draws disproportionate numbers of black and minority ethnic young men into the criminal justice system in England and Wales. While stereotyping by the police and prosecution has been blamed for this distributive injustice, empirical research on joint enterprise is limited. This article presents the findings from a study of homicide and ‘gang’ detectives in London in which they rebut accusations …
Silence, joint enterprise and the legal trap
The so-called ‘wall of silence’ presents a threat to successful police investigations and criminal trials. Explanations for it have focused on cultural narratives, including distrust in the police, a ‘no snitching’ culture and manipulative ‘professional criminals’. Drawing on a study of serious multi-handed violence and ‘joint enterprise’ as a legal response, this article highlights the role of the law, and its agents, in generating silence among…
Trajectories of hope/lessness among men and women in the late stage of a life sentence
Drawing on Snyder's ‘hope theory’ as a conceptual framework, this article examines the hope narratives of men and women at the ‘late stage’ of a life sentence. The article aims to bridge the existing gap between jurisprudence and sociological accounts on hope and life imprisonment by extending this debate to men and women serving reducible life sentences in England and Wales, for whom release is not guaranteed but assumed to be attainable. Throug…
Joint enterprise in England and Wales
The law in England and Wales (as in Australia and other jurisdictions) enables a person to be convicted of an offence committed by another using complicity liability, sometimes termed 'joint enterprise'.In England and Wales, 'joint enterprise' has been widely criticised for: failing to distinguish between the moral and legal culpability of the person who commits the substantive offence and those on the periphery of it; being disproportionality ap…
The Moral Weight of Murder
The act of murder raises deep moral questions about how a person could kill another human-being. Yet little is known about how individuals implicated in murders morally reflect on their actions. Based on research with men and women convicted of murder when young in England and Wales, this article exposes the differential moral burden of murder offences: a ‘moral weight’ that varies along a continuum from light to heavy. ‘Light’ moral weight is as…
Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (12 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Criminology (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Prison (7 works)