Olivia Smith
Biographic Data
| ID | 3871701 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Olivia Smith |
| GIVEN NAMES | Olivia |
| FAMILY NAME | Smith |
| SIGNATURE | SMITH O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Loughborough University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1266-7377 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 44 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The role of safety and wellbeing in reporting decisions of sexual violence victim-survivors in England and Wales
This article uses an online survey of 586 victim-survivors to examine how safety and wellbeing shape decisions about reporting sexual violence to the police in England and Wales. Feeling physically and psychologically safe is central to wellbeing, so reporting decisions involved a complex and ongoing negotiation between these considerations. Both reporting and non-reporting were therefore active decisions based on the victim-survivor’s appraisal …
Can Shifting Beliefs About Planned Sex Lead to Engaging in More Frequent Sex and Higher Desire and Satisfaction? An Experimental Study of Parents with Young Children
Although people idealize spontaneous sex, planned sex is associated with lower satisfaction only when valued less. This research tested how manipulating planned-sex beliefs and intentions affects sexual frequency, desire, distress, and satisfaction among parents of young children, who are more vulnerable to lower sexual and relationship satisfaction. Following a Pilot Study testing the manipulation ( N = 215), participants in the Main Study ( N =…
Re-imagining Procedural Justice in Policing Sexual Violence
Procedural justice is recognized as being of substantial value to policing and, increasingly, victim-survivors. However, little research has engaged with the meaning of procedural justice theory in sexual violence, and none have developed an understanding with and for survivors. We conducted consultations with 42 survivors via five diverse expert-by-experience panels in England. We propose the following new conceptualizations of the key principle…
The systemic procedural injustice faced by victim-survivors in police responses to rape and ‘serious’ sexual offences
Drawing on a large multi-method study in England and Wales, this paper outlines key challenges to procedural justice faced by victim-survivors in contemporary police responses to rape and ‘serious’ sexual offences. It draws on an innovative dataset – involving ‘real-time’ police ethnographic observations and review of police video footage, combined with supporting stakeholder focus groups and interviews – to provide a multifaceted, holistic exami…
Where do English and Welsh victim-survivors of sexual violence perceive they might gain kaleidoscopic justice
McGlynn and Westmarland in 2019 developed a holistic framework for victim-survivor understandings of justice after sexual violence. The framework, named ‘Kaleidoscopic Justice’, highlighted the importance of six components: consequences, recognition, dignity, voice, prevention, and connectedness. Now, we provide the first examination of whether victim-survivors perceive different support services and the criminal justice system (CJS) as achieving…
“I Missed School to Take Care of Someone Else”
BACKGROUND: Middle and high school students who are involved in caregiving for aging, chronically ill, and/or disabled family members report more learning challenges compared to their non-caregiving peers. However, little is known about how many students miss school to take care of someone else, and which students are most likely to have this experience. Such knowledge could reveal an important, largely unrecognized reason for school absences and…
Myths about myths? A commentary on Thomas (2020) and the question of jury rape myth acceptance
This commentary responds to claims that research by Cheryl Thomas ‘shows’ no problem with rape myths in English and Welsh juries. We critique the claim on the basis of ambiguous survey design, a false distinction between ‘real’ jurors and other research participants, the conflation of attitudes in relation to abstract versus applied rape myths, and misleading interpretation of the data. Ultimately, we call for a balanced appraisal of individual s…
State compensation as rape justice
The British state’s mechanism for compensating victim-survivors of sexual offences has been critiqued as retraumatising. However, a recent review preliminarily rejected calls to loosen the eligibility rules, stating that the current criteria reflect public attitudes. This article outlines the first empirical study of public opinion on the UK Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS), drawing on data from over 2,000 survey participants. The fin…
Independent separate legal representation for rape complainants in adversarial systems
In March 2018, Northern Ireland was divided by the acquittal of four men for rape, attempted rape, exposure, and perverting the court of justice in what became known as the ‘Belfast Rugby Rape Trial’. The case resulted in considerable debate about the ill‐treatment of rape complainants and prompted the Gillen Review into the Laws and Procedures in Serious Sexual Offences. Gillen proposed the introduction of separate legal representation (SLR) to …
The New Urban Crisis
"The New Urban Crisis: how our cities are increasing inequality, deepening segregation, and failing the middle-class – and what we can do about it." Planning Perspectives, 33(3), pp. 481–482
The practicalities of English and Welsh rape trials
English and Welsh rape trials have long been recognized as problematic, with research highlighting the prevalence of rape myths, sexual history evidence and manipulative questioning at trial. Despite this extensive literature, little attention has been paid to the more practical elements of rape trials, but the limited evidence that does exist suggests these may significantly impact survivors. This article therefore draws upon 13 months of court …
Supporting Rape Survivors Through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme
English and Welsh responses to rape have long been critically examined, leading to attempted improvements in the criminal justice system. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) and the difficulties applying it to rape. To begin addressing this gap, researchers interviewed three, and qualitatively surveyed 22, Independent Sexual Violence Advisors. The findings suggest that CICS may not only…
How Rape Myths Are Used and Challenged in Rape and Sexual Assault Trials
Court responses to rape and sexual assault have been repeatedly criticized in England and Wales (Brown et al., 2010). In particular, research has identified prevalent stereotypes about rape in both the criminal justice system and wider society, with these rape myths often being used as the predominant explanation for inadequate victim/survivor treatment (see Temkin and Krahé, 2008). The existing literature, though, tends to rely on interviews or …
Perpetuating Traveller children’s educational disadvantage in Ireland
The impact of ‘subtle’ admission policies utilized by many secondary schools in Ireland on children from minority groups has been recently flagged as problematic by the Irish Department of Education. A new regulatory framework has been promised to address this issue but has yet to emerge. In the meantime, such policies, which include preferential parental legacy rules, certainly trigger the reconfigured principle of indirect discrimination in the…
Litigating Discrimination on Grounds of Family Status
Thinking Through Things in Texts
What is the cognitive role of things - sometimes but not always expressed as nouns - that appear in texts? What kind of literary affordances are the material furnishings that appear in a piece of literary writing? These questions are explored in this essay through the example of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), a long work of literary philosophy that plays with the evolving conventions of its genre. Fusing methodologies b…
Observing Court Responses to Victims of Rape and Sexual Assault
Despite years of policy reform in England and Wales, court responses to rape and sexual assault victims remain inadequate. Existing literature often relies on interviews, is outdated by policy, or ignores underlying assumptions. This study therefore observed rape and sexual assault trials, identifying underlying assumptions using critical discourse analysis (CDA). The main themes that arose were routine delays, notions of “rational” behavior, ext…
Royal Poetrie
Spadoise Diversions
Spa in modern-day Belgium was, in the early modern period, notorious for its waters and for being a place of interaction and intrigue. United by the customs of a water-taking routine and away from home, travellers from across Europe met there, spoke and exchanged stories, news and ideas. The transient, seasonal water-drinkers formed a traffic streaming through the local, more permanent structures and customs of Spa itself, and of the broader regi…
Comparable Workers” and the Part-Time Workers Regulations
Ireland's Multiple Ground Anti-Discrimination Framework — Extending the Limitations
Against the backdrop of the more recent similar expansion of the anti-discrimination framework at EU level, this article reviews the operation of the last five years of Ireland's expanded anti-discrimination framework which brought an extension of the discriminatory grounds from two to a total of nine. In particular, it raises questions as to the claimed effectiveness of the ED framework from the perspective of those, particularly women, who iden…
How Rape Myths Are Used and Challenged in Rape and Sexual Assault Trials
Court responses to rape and sexual assault have been repeatedly criticized in England and Wales (Brown et al., 2010). In particular, research has identified prevalent stereotypes about rape in both the criminal justice system and wider society, with these rape myths often being used as the predominant explanation for inadequate victim/survivor treatment (see Temkin and Krahé, 2008). The existing literature, though, tends to rely on interviews or …
Observing Court Responses to Victims of Rape and Sexual Assault
Despite years of policy reform in England and Wales, court responses to rape and sexual assault victims remain inadequate. Existing literature often relies on interviews, is outdated by policy, or ignores underlying assumptions. This study therefore observed rape and sexual assault trials, identifying underlying assumptions using critical discourse analysis (CDA). The main themes that arose were routine delays, notions of “rational” behavior, ext…
Supporting Rape Survivors Through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme
English and Welsh responses to rape have long been critically examined, leading to attempted improvements in the criminal justice system. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) and the difficulties applying it to rape. To begin addressing this gap, researchers interviewed three, and qualitatively surveyed 22, Independent Sexual Violence Advisors. The findings suggest that CICS may not only…
Litigating Discrimination on Grounds of Family Status
The practicalities of English and Welsh rape trials
English and Welsh rape trials have long been recognized as problematic, with research highlighting the prevalence of rape myths, sexual history evidence and manipulative questioning at trial. Despite this extensive literature, little attention has been paid to the more practical elements of rape trials, but the limited evidence that does exist suggests these may significantly impact survivors. This article therefore draws upon 13 months of court …
Royal Poetrie
Ireland's Multiple Ground Anti-Discrimination Framework — Extending the Limitations
Against the backdrop of the more recent similar expansion of the anti-discrimination framework at EU level, this article reviews the operation of the last five years of Ireland's expanded anti-discrimination framework which brought an extension of the discriminatory grounds from two to a total of nine. In particular, it raises questions as to the claimed effectiveness of the ED framework from the perspective of those, particularly women, who iden…
Comparable Workers” and the Part-Time Workers Regulations
Royal Poetrie
Spadoise Diversions
Spa in modern-day Belgium was, in the early modern period, notorious for its waters and for being a place of interaction and intrigue. United by the customs of a water-taking routine and away from home, travellers from across Europe met there, spoke and exchanged stories, news and ideas. The transient, seasonal water-drinkers formed a traffic streaming through the local, more permanent structures and customs of Spa itself, and of the broader regi…
Observing Court Responses to Victims of Rape and Sexual Assault
Despite years of policy reform in England and Wales, court responses to rape and sexual assault victims remain inadequate. Existing literature often relies on interviews, is outdated by policy, or ignores underlying assumptions. This study therefore observed rape and sexual assault trials, identifying underlying assumptions using critical discourse analysis (CDA). The main themes that arose were routine delays, notions of “rational” behavior, ext…
Perpetuating Traveller children’s educational disadvantage in Ireland
The impact of ‘subtle’ admission policies utilized by many secondary schools in Ireland on children from minority groups has been recently flagged as problematic by the Irish Department of Education. A new regulatory framework has been promised to address this issue but has yet to emerge. In the meantime, such policies, which include preferential parental legacy rules, certainly trigger the reconfigured principle of indirect discrimination in the…
Litigating Discrimination on Grounds of Family Status
Thinking Through Things in Texts
What is the cognitive role of things - sometimes but not always expressed as nouns - that appear in texts? What kind of literary affordances are the material furnishings that appear in a piece of literary writing? These questions are explored in this essay through the example of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), a long work of literary philosophy that plays with the evolving conventions of its genre. Fusing methodologies b…
The practicalities of English and Welsh rape trials
English and Welsh rape trials have long been recognized as problematic, with research highlighting the prevalence of rape myths, sexual history evidence and manipulative questioning at trial. Despite this extensive literature, little attention has been paid to the more practical elements of rape trials, but the limited evidence that does exist suggests these may significantly impact survivors. This article therefore draws upon 13 months of court …
Supporting Rape Survivors Through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme
English and Welsh responses to rape have long been critically examined, leading to attempted improvements in the criminal justice system. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) and the difficulties applying it to rape. To begin addressing this gap, researchers interviewed three, and qualitatively surveyed 22, Independent Sexual Violence Advisors. The findings suggest that CICS may not only…
How Rape Myths Are Used and Challenged in Rape and Sexual Assault Trials
Court responses to rape and sexual assault have been repeatedly criticized in England and Wales (Brown et al., 2010). In particular, research has identified prevalent stereotypes about rape in both the criminal justice system and wider society, with these rape myths often being used as the predominant explanation for inadequate victim/survivor treatment (see Temkin and Krahé, 2008). The existing literature, though, tends to rely on interviews or …
The New Urban Crisis
"The New Urban Crisis: how our cities are increasing inequality, deepening segregation, and failing the middle-class – and what we can do about it." Planning Perspectives, 33(3), pp. 481–482
State compensation as rape justice
The British state’s mechanism for compensating victim-survivors of sexual offences has been critiqued as retraumatising. However, a recent review preliminarily rejected calls to loosen the eligibility rules, stating that the current criteria reflect public attitudes. This article outlines the first empirical study of public opinion on the UK Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS), drawing on data from over 2,000 survey participants. The fin…
Independent separate legal representation for rape complainants in adversarial systems
In March 2018, Northern Ireland was divided by the acquittal of four men for rape, attempted rape, exposure, and perverting the court of justice in what became known as the ‘Belfast Rugby Rape Trial’. The case resulted in considerable debate about the ill‐treatment of rape complainants and prompted the Gillen Review into the Laws and Procedures in Serious Sexual Offences. Gillen proposed the introduction of separate legal representation (SLR) to …
Myths about myths? A commentary on Thomas (2020) and the question of jury rape myth acceptance
This commentary responds to claims that research by Cheryl Thomas ‘shows’ no problem with rape myths in English and Welsh juries. We critique the claim on the basis of ambiguous survey design, a false distinction between ‘real’ jurors and other research participants, the conflation of attitudes in relation to abstract versus applied rape myths, and misleading interpretation of the data. Ultimately, we call for a balanced appraisal of individual s…
“I Missed School to Take Care of Someone Else”
BACKGROUND: Middle and high school students who are involved in caregiving for aging, chronically ill, and/or disabled family members report more learning challenges compared to their non-caregiving peers. However, little is known about how many students miss school to take care of someone else, and which students are most likely to have this experience. Such knowledge could reveal an important, largely unrecognized reason for school absences and…
Can Shifting Beliefs About Planned Sex Lead to Engaging in More Frequent Sex and Higher Desire and Satisfaction? An Experimental Study of Parents with Young Children
Although people idealize spontaneous sex, planned sex is associated with lower satisfaction only when valued less. This research tested how manipulating planned-sex beliefs and intentions affects sexual frequency, desire, distress, and satisfaction among parents of young children, who are more vulnerable to lower sexual and relationship satisfaction. Following a Pilot Study testing the manipulation ( N = 215), participants in the Main Study ( N =…
Re-imagining Procedural Justice in Policing Sexual Violence
Procedural justice is recognized as being of substantial value to policing and, increasingly, victim-survivors. However, little research has engaged with the meaning of procedural justice theory in sexual violence, and none have developed an understanding with and for survivors. We conducted consultations with 42 survivors via five diverse expert-by-experience panels in England. We propose the following new conceptualizations of the key principle…
The systemic procedural injustice faced by victim-survivors in police responses to rape and ‘serious’ sexual offences
Drawing on a large multi-method study in England and Wales, this paper outlines key challenges to procedural justice faced by victim-survivors in contemporary police responses to rape and ‘serious’ sexual offences. It draws on an innovative dataset – involving ‘real-time’ police ethnographic observations and review of police video footage, combined with supporting stakeholder focus groups and interviews – to provide a multifaceted, holistic exami…
Where do English and Welsh victim-survivors of sexual violence perceive they might gain kaleidoscopic justice
McGlynn and Westmarland in 2019 developed a holistic framework for victim-survivor understandings of justice after sexual violence. The framework, named ‘Kaleidoscopic Justice’, highlighted the importance of six components: consequences, recognition, dignity, voice, prevention, and connectedness. Now, we provide the first examination of whether victim-survivors perceive different support services and the criminal justice system (CJS) as achieving…
The role of safety and wellbeing in reporting decisions of sexual violence victim-survivors in England and Wales
This article uses an online survey of 586 victim-survivors to examine how safety and wellbeing shape decisions about reporting sexual violence to the police in England and Wales. Feeling physically and psychologically safe is central to wellbeing, so reporting decisions involved a complex and ongoing negotiation between these considerations. Both reporting and non-reporting were therefore active decisions based on the victim-survivor’s appraisal …
Political science (16 works) · Law (13 works) · Law (13 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies (11 works) · History (9 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (8 works) · Criminology (8 works) · Economic Justice (8 works)