This three-year project seeks to explore and generate knowledge about the experience of penal supervision across England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Dr Jake Phillips with colleagues in the University of Nottingham (Professor Nicola Carr), University of Strathclyde (Professor Beth Weaver), Stirling University (Dr Hannah Graham) and the University of Glasgow (Professor Fergus McNeill) have received a Leverhulme Research Project Grant of £421,954 for research on: Penal Supervision in Comparative Context. The scale, diversity and intensity of penal supervision (people subject to community sanctions and measures such as probation) has greatly increased in recent years, leading to suggestions that we have entered an era of ‘mass supervision’. Three times as many people are supervised as are imprisoned, yet there have been few in-depth attempts to understand the nature of supervision and its growth. This comparative research will explore supervision in situ across five nations (England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). Using innovative methods, the study will generate crucial knowledge about how supervision is experienced, practiced and governed, and the socio-political conditions that influence its forms and its development. Two post-doctoral research assistants (based in the University of Nottingham and the University of Strathclyde) will be employed to work on the three-year project which will begin in August 2023.