Kath Murray
Biographic Data
| ID | 5237844 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kath Murray |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kath |
| FAMILY NAME | Murray |
| SIGNATURE | MURRAY K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1941-9525 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 57 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
From Freddos to Frank's Law: An Assessment of the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions System
The opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 saw the establishment of a public petitions system, aimed at strengthening the relationship between the Scottish public and the Parliament. In 2006 an evaluation by Professor Christopher Carman described the petitions system as ‘a vital link between the public and the Parliament’ (2006: 8.3–11). At the same time, Carman raised concerns about transparency and a lack of information on decision-making. …
From Parking Tickets to the Pandemic: Fixed Penalty Notices, Inequity and the Regulation of Everyday Behaviours
Since the 1960s, Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) have become a widely used sanction in the United Kingdom, used to deal with various low-level offences. More recently, the sanction came to prominence as the mechanism chosen to enforce the Coronavirus Health Regulations. This article critically examines the decision to employ FPNs in this context, and the implications in respect of inequality and inequity. We show that the decision was at odds with c…
ACEs, Places and Inequality: Understanding the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Poverty on Offending in Childhood
Over the last three decades, an extensive body of research evidence has emerged on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and a range of negative outcomes, including offending. Using data from a Scottish child cohort study, this article seeks to better understand how both ACEs and material deprivation influence childhood offending. We show that while the number of ACEs is a strong predictor of childhood offending, certain t…
Like mother, like child? Sex differences in the maternal transmission of offending among a Scottish cohort of pre-adolescent children
That parental offending acts as a strong risk factor for offending in children is well-established within criminology. Yet, research on maternal offending is relatively limited, even though many women take on a significantly higher share of childcare responsibilities, and as such, might reasonably be expected to exert an especially strong influence on their children. In part, this lacuna might be attributed to a male-centric lens within criminolo…
Leaving ‘home?’ Belonging, break-up and becoming in the police family
This article considers the impact of police merger processes on officers and staff. The Railway Policing (Scotland) Act 2017 legislated that the Scottish functions and personnel of the British Transport Police (BTP) would be integrated into Scotland’s national police force. The journey towards this destination, however, has been protracted, problematic and now appears to be indefinitely postponed. Demonstrating the limits of the ‘police family’, …
Procedural justice, compliance with the law and police stop-and-search: A study of young people in England and Scotland
The policing of young people, especially through stop-and-search, has been rigorously debated in the context of rising violence in the UK. While concepts based on procedural justice theory and perceptions of police fairness are directly relevant to these debates, these have rarely been tested on young people, nor have they taken account of the impact of stop-and-search. This paper examines young people’s experiences of stop-and-search in two Scot…
Losing sight of women's rights (again): A response to Cowan et al
This article responds to Cowan et al.'s critique of our article ‘Losing sight of women's rights: the unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland’, published by Scottish Affairs 28(3) in August 2019. Cowan et al. make a series of strong criticisms, including of our accuracy, diligence and adherence to scholarly norms. We reject these as unreasonable. In our view, they misunderstand and misre…
Statement from the authors of ‘Losing sight of women's rights’
This statement notes the contribution made by Lisa Mackenzie to the 2019 article ‘Losing sight of women's rights: the unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland’ in Scottish Affairs, 28 (3)
Achieving cultural change through organizational justice: The case of stop and search in Scotland
In recent years, the scale, impact and legality of stop and search in Scotland has been subject to intense critical scrutiny, leading to major legal and policy reform in 2016. Based on these events, including an early unsuccessful attempt by Police Scotland to reform the tactic (the ‘Fife Pilot’), this article presents original theoretical and empirical insights into organizational change in policing. Building on the theoretical perspectives of C…
Losing sight of women's rights: The unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland
Within the last two years, respective proposals by the Scottish and UK Governments to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) to allow people to change their legal sex based only on making a legally-registered self-declaration have sparked an intense debate on how sex and gender identity should be defined in law and policy. This paper examines how gender self-identification had in fact become a feature of Scottish policy-making and practice,…
The Modern Making of Stop and Search
This article investigates the development of modern stop and search powers in post-war Britain—namely, the legal rules that allow police officers to stop and search a person based on reasonable suspicion, and as an adjunct to a specific offence. The article traces the rise of a preventative outlook premised on police power, rather than police presence, and demonstrates how, against a backdrop of political consensus and stability, the preventative…
Why have we funded this research?’: On politics, research and newsmaking criminology
In recent years, the value, or otherwise, of newsmaking criminology has generated considerable debate within academia. On the one hand, critics have argued that such approaches risk devaluing academic enterprise, for instance, privileging style over substance; on the other hand, proponents argue that newsmaking can promote more informed, progressive discourse in societies that are already saturated with crime and justice issues. Taking a differen…
Under-regulated and unaccountable? Explaining variation in stop and search rates in Scotland, England and Wales
From a position of near parity in 2005/2006, by 2012/2013 recorded search rates in Scotland exceeded those in England/Wales seven times over. This divergence is intriguing given the demands placed on the police, and the legal capacity to deal with these are broadly similar across the two jurisdictions. The aim of this paper is to unpack this variation. Using a comparative case-study approach, the paper examines the role of structural ‘top-down’ d…
Policing in Cool and Hot Climates: Legitimacy, Power and the Rise and Fall of Mass Stop and Search in Scotland
Prior to the amalgamation of Scotland’s eight police forces into Police Scotland in 2013 by the Scottish National Party government, Scottish policing generally enjoyed a ‘cool’ political climate, with low scrutiny and minimal political engagement. This paper argues these conditions hindered the critical interrogation of Scottish policing, allowing a policy of unregulated and unfettered stop and search to flourish unchallenged for two decades. We …
Losing sight of women's rights: The unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland
Within the last two years, respective proposals by the Scottish and UK Governments to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) to allow people to change their legal sex based only on making a legally-registered self-declaration have sparked an intense debate on how sex and gender identity should be defined in law and policy. This paper examines how gender self-identification had in fact become a feature of Scottish policy-making and practice,…
Procedural justice, compliance with the law and police stop-and-search: A study of young people in England and Scotland
The policing of young people, especially through stop-and-search, has been rigorously debated in the context of rising violence in the UK. While concepts based on procedural justice theory and perceptions of police fairness are directly relevant to these debates, these have rarely been tested on young people, nor have they taken account of the impact of stop-and-search. This paper examines young people’s experiences of stop-and-search in two Scot…
Under-regulated and unaccountable? Explaining variation in stop and search rates in Scotland, England and Wales
From a position of near parity in 2005/2006, by 2012/2013 recorded search rates in Scotland exceeded those in England/Wales seven times over. This divergence is intriguing given the demands placed on the police, and the legal capacity to deal with these are broadly similar across the two jurisdictions. The aim of this paper is to unpack this variation. Using a comparative case-study approach, the paper examines the role of structural ‘top-down’ d…
Achieving cultural change through organizational justice: The case of stop and search in Scotland
In recent years, the scale, impact and legality of stop and search in Scotland has been subject to intense critical scrutiny, leading to major legal and policy reform in 2016. Based on these events, including an early unsuccessful attempt by Police Scotland to reform the tactic (the ‘Fife Pilot’), this article presents original theoretical and empirical insights into organizational change in policing. Building on the theoretical perspectives of C…
Why have we funded this research?’: On politics, research and newsmaking criminology
In recent years, the value, or otherwise, of newsmaking criminology has generated considerable debate within academia. On the one hand, critics have argued that such approaches risk devaluing academic enterprise, for instance, privileging style over substance; on the other hand, proponents argue that newsmaking can promote more informed, progressive discourse in societies that are already saturated with crime and justice issues. Taking a differen…
ACEs, Places and Inequality: Understanding the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Poverty on Offending in Childhood
Over the last three decades, an extensive body of research evidence has emerged on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and a range of negative outcomes, including offending. Using data from a Scottish child cohort study, this article seeks to better understand how both ACEs and material deprivation influence childhood offending. We show that while the number of ACEs is a strong predictor of childhood offending, certain t…
Leaving ‘home?’ Belonging, break-up and becoming in the police family
This article considers the impact of police merger processes on officers and staff. The Railway Policing (Scotland) Act 2017 legislated that the Scottish functions and personnel of the British Transport Police (BTP) would be integrated into Scotland’s national police force. The journey towards this destination, however, has been protracted, problematic and now appears to be indefinitely postponed. Demonstrating the limits of the ‘police family’, …
From Parking Tickets to the Pandemic: Fixed Penalty Notices, Inequity and the Regulation of Everyday Behaviours
Since the 1960s, Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) have become a widely used sanction in the United Kingdom, used to deal with various low-level offences. More recently, the sanction came to prominence as the mechanism chosen to enforce the Coronavirus Health Regulations. This article critically examines the decision to employ FPNs in this context, and the implications in respect of inequality and inequity. We show that the decision was at odds with c…
Losing sight of women's rights (again): A response to Cowan et al
This article responds to Cowan et al.'s critique of our article ‘Losing sight of women's rights: the unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland’, published by Scottish Affairs 28(3) in August 2019. Cowan et al. make a series of strong criticisms, including of our accuracy, diligence and adherence to scholarly norms. We reject these as unreasonable. In our view, they misunderstand and misre…
Statement from the authors of ‘Losing sight of women's rights’
This statement notes the contribution made by Lisa Mackenzie to the 2019 article ‘Losing sight of women's rights: the unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland’ in Scottish Affairs, 28 (3)
The Modern Making of Stop and Search
This article investigates the development of modern stop and search powers in post-war Britain—namely, the legal rules that allow police officers to stop and search a person based on reasonable suspicion, and as an adjunct to a specific offence. The article traces the rise of a preventative outlook premised on police power, rather than police presence, and demonstrates how, against a backdrop of political consensus and stability, the preventative…
Policing in Cool and Hot Climates: Legitimacy, Power and the Rise and Fall of Mass Stop and Search in Scotland
Prior to the amalgamation of Scotland’s eight police forces into Police Scotland in 2013 by the Scottish National Party government, Scottish policing generally enjoyed a ‘cool’ political climate, with low scrutiny and minimal political engagement. This paper argues these conditions hindered the critical interrogation of Scottish policing, allowing a policy of unregulated and unfettered stop and search to flourish unchallenged for two decades. We …
Under-regulated and unaccountable? Explaining variation in stop and search rates in Scotland, England and Wales
From a position of near parity in 2005/2006, by 2012/2013 recorded search rates in Scotland exceeded those in England/Wales seven times over. This divergence is intriguing given the demands placed on the police, and the legal capacity to deal with these are broadly similar across the two jurisdictions. The aim of this paper is to unpack this variation. Using a comparative case-study approach, the paper examines the role of structural ‘top-down’ d…
Policing in Cool and Hot Climates: Legitimacy, Power and the Rise and Fall of Mass Stop and Search in Scotland
Prior to the amalgamation of Scotland’s eight police forces into Police Scotland in 2013 by the Scottish National Party government, Scottish policing generally enjoyed a ‘cool’ political climate, with low scrutiny and minimal political engagement. This paper argues these conditions hindered the critical interrogation of Scottish policing, allowing a policy of unregulated and unfettered stop and search to flourish unchallenged for two decades. We …
Why have we funded this research?’: On politics, research and newsmaking criminology
In recent years, the value, or otherwise, of newsmaking criminology has generated considerable debate within academia. On the one hand, critics have argued that such approaches risk devaluing academic enterprise, for instance, privileging style over substance; on the other hand, proponents argue that newsmaking can promote more informed, progressive discourse in societies that are already saturated with crime and justice issues. Taking a differen…
The Modern Making of Stop and Search
This article investigates the development of modern stop and search powers in post-war Britain—namely, the legal rules that allow police officers to stop and search a person based on reasonable suspicion, and as an adjunct to a specific offence. The article traces the rise of a preventative outlook premised on police power, rather than police presence, and demonstrates how, against a backdrop of political consensus and stability, the preventative…
Achieving cultural change through organizational justice: The case of stop and search in Scotland
In recent years, the scale, impact and legality of stop and search in Scotland has been subject to intense critical scrutiny, leading to major legal and policy reform in 2016. Based on these events, including an early unsuccessful attempt by Police Scotland to reform the tactic (the ‘Fife Pilot’), this article presents original theoretical and empirical insights into organizational change in policing. Building on the theoretical perspectives of C…
Losing sight of women's rights: The unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland
Within the last two years, respective proposals by the Scottish and UK Governments to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) to allow people to change their legal sex based only on making a legally-registered self-declaration have sparked an intense debate on how sex and gender identity should be defined in law and policy. This paper examines how gender self-identification had in fact become a feature of Scottish policy-making and practice,…
Procedural justice, compliance with the law and police stop-and-search: A study of young people in England and Scotland
The policing of young people, especially through stop-and-search, has been rigorously debated in the context of rising violence in the UK. While concepts based on procedural justice theory and perceptions of police fairness are directly relevant to these debates, these have rarely been tested on young people, nor have they taken account of the impact of stop-and-search. This paper examines young people’s experiences of stop-and-search in two Scot…
Losing sight of women's rights (again): A response to Cowan et al
This article responds to Cowan et al.'s critique of our article ‘Losing sight of women's rights: the unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland’, published by Scottish Affairs 28(3) in August 2019. Cowan et al. make a series of strong criticisms, including of our accuracy, diligence and adherence to scholarly norms. We reject these as unreasonable. In our view, they misunderstand and misre…
Statement from the authors of ‘Losing sight of women's rights’
This statement notes the contribution made by Lisa Mackenzie to the 2019 article ‘Losing sight of women's rights: the unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland’ in Scottish Affairs, 28 (3)
Like mother, like child? Sex differences in the maternal transmission of offending among a Scottish cohort of pre-adolescent children
That parental offending acts as a strong risk factor for offending in children is well-established within criminology. Yet, research on maternal offending is relatively limited, even though many women take on a significantly higher share of childcare responsibilities, and as such, might reasonably be expected to exert an especially strong influence on their children. In part, this lacuna might be attributed to a male-centric lens within criminolo…
Leaving ‘home?’ Belonging, break-up and becoming in the police family
This article considers the impact of police merger processes on officers and staff. The Railway Policing (Scotland) Act 2017 legislated that the Scottish functions and personnel of the British Transport Police (BTP) would be integrated into Scotland’s national police force. The journey towards this destination, however, has been protracted, problematic and now appears to be indefinitely postponed. Demonstrating the limits of the ‘police family’, …
ACEs, Places and Inequality: Understanding the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Poverty on Offending in Childhood
Over the last three decades, an extensive body of research evidence has emerged on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and a range of negative outcomes, including offending. Using data from a Scottish child cohort study, this article seeks to better understand how both ACEs and material deprivation influence childhood offending. We show that while the number of ACEs is a strong predictor of childhood offending, certain t…
From Parking Tickets to the Pandemic: Fixed Penalty Notices, Inequity and the Regulation of Everyday Behaviours
Since the 1960s, Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) have become a widely used sanction in the United Kingdom, used to deal with various low-level offences. More recently, the sanction came to prominence as the mechanism chosen to enforce the Coronavirus Health Regulations. This article critically examines the decision to employ FPNs in this context, and the implications in respect of inequality and inequity. We show that the decision was at odds with c…
From Freddos to Frank's Law: An Assessment of the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions System
The opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 saw the establishment of a public petitions system, aimed at strengthening the relationship between the Scottish public and the Parliament. In 2006 an evaluation by Professor Christopher Carman described the petitions system as ‘a vital link between the public and the Parliament’ (2006: 8.3–11). At the same time, Carman raised concerns about transparency and a lack of information on decision-making. …
Political science (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (8 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Policing Practices and Perceptions (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Criminology (5 works) · Psychology (5 works)