Charlotte Bishop

Dr Charlotte Bishop joined the University of Reading as Associate Professor in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice in September 2022, having previously been a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Exeter. Charlotte teaches on the Criminal Law and Criminology modules and is Deputy Director of the Criminology BSc programme. Charlotte’s research interests lie in the areas of feminist legal theory and gender-based violence, with a specific focus on intimate partner violence and the intersections between criminal justice, criminal law, and feminist legal theory. 

Recently Charlotte has advised the Law Commission on its review of the law on intimate image abuse ('revenge porn'), with two publications cited in the final report and recommendations published in July 2022. Previous research has explored the potential for the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to transform the response to domestic violence and abuse in England and Wales, how domestic violence, including ‘controlling or coercive behaviour’ under s 76 Serious Crime Act 2015, could be more effectively evidenced in criminal proceedings, and how courtroom participation could be made safer and more effective for witnesses who have experienced domestic violence, particularly where there is trauma. 

Charlotte has three current research projects. The first combines the conceptual framework of coercive control with insights from neuroscience on attachment and traumatic defences with the aim of improving criminal justice responses to victims of intimate partner violence who use fatal violence against their partner. The second is a funded project on carer-perpetrated homicide-suicides in England and Wales and aims to estimate prevalence and develop an evidence-based typology that can be used to categorise cases by motive, method, demographics and/or risk factors. The final project Charlotte is working on currently is a pilot study in collaboration with the South West Grid for Learning, an umbrella organisation working to end online harms. This project aims to explore the extent and nature of harmful sexual behaviour in schools and identify effective support to enable schools and criminal justice agencies to better respond and prevent harm of this kind. Alongside this, Charlotte is writing up findings from an SLSA-funded project with Dr Marian Duggan (Criminology, Kent) exploring the experiences of feminist academics who incorporate gender and intersectional perspectives into their teaching of criminal justice-related modules. 

Charlotte makes regular media appearances to talk about issues surrounding gender-based violence and criminal justice and is passionate about raising awareness of the need to reframe discussions about 'women’s safety' to name and address male violence as the root cause. She is also frequently invited to speak at non-academic conferences and events. 

Charlotte welcomes expressions of interest from prospective PhD students in the areas of feminist legal theory and gender-based violence, broadly construed to include intimate partner violence (domestic violence), coercive control, sexual violence, pornography, intimate image abuse, and the 'rough sex' defence.