About
Biography
McCarthy is currently Professor in Criminology in the Department of Sociology/Co-Director of the Centre for Criminology. He specialises in research in areas of policing, inter-agency working, and more latterly in the area of prison/family effects and incarceration. He also has interests in cross-national research, including emphasis on public attitudes to policing and punishment (especially the death penalty).
McCarthy's wider interests concern the effects of family contact on prisoner re-entry, the impact of prison conditions on prisoner behaviour during and beyond their sentence, as well as more generally in the application of criminological theory. He is author of 'Soft Policing: The Collaborative Control of Anti-Social Behaviour' (Palgrave, 2014), 'The Impact of Youth Imprisonment on the Lives of Parents' (with Maria Adams, Routledge, 2023) and 'Beyond Porridge' (with Maria Adams, Jon Garland, Vicki Harman, Erin Power and Talitha Brown( Waterside Press, 2024), as well as numerous articles in the fields of criminology and sociology. He has received several grants and awards including the 2014 British Society of Criminology (Policing Network) award, the 2014 Economic and Social Research Council, Future Leaders Award, as well as the 2015 Vice Chancellor's 'Researcher of the Year' Award. He also was co-awarded the Faculty Teacher of the Year Prize (2019).
University roles and responsibilities
- Director of Impact
Previous roles
ResearchResearch interests
McCarthy's research assesses the ways through which caregivers (especially mothers) seek to support young men during incarceration, including the multitude of adversities which are created through this deployment of support. His core areas of investigation currently concern:
- The ways political legacies inform public attitudes to crime and punishment through a cross-national lens.
- The impact of public understandings of law and justice.
- The impact of food on women's imprisonment journeys (ESRC, CI, £544,000)
He is currently involved in the delivery of a parenting model intervention with two youth offending teams (funded by Nuffield Foundation - £75,000, with Maria Adams).
Research interests
McCarthy's research assesses the ways through which caregivers (especially mothers) seek to support young men during incarceration, including the multitude of adversities which are created through this deployment of support. His core areas of investigation currently concern:
- The ways political legacies inform public attitudes to crime and punishment through a cross-national lens.
- The impact of public understandings of law and justice.
- The impact of food on women's imprisonment journeys (ESRC, CI, £544,000)
He is currently involved in the delivery of a parenting model intervention with two youth offending teams (funded by Nuffield Foundation - £75,000, with Maria Adams).
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
- Charlotte Dodds (Final year PhD) The Partners of Prisoners
- Stephanie Rugg (2nd year) The resettlement journeys of mothers in the prison system.
- Josephine Lee (2nd year) Sexual consent and young people
- Amy Alves (1 year) Dementia and imprisonment
I have also examined nine vivas.
Completed postgraduate research projects I have supervised
Serena Wright (graduated 2014) 'Persistent' and 'prolific' offending across the lifecourse as experienced by women.
Melissa Pepper (graduated 2019/20) Doing more with less: The use of volunteers in policing
Annie Bunce (graduated 2019/20) Offender motivation in the context of prison programmes
Applications welcome
I am keen to supervise new PhD students and would welcome applications across most criminological areas, but especially in the following topics:
- Imprisonment, especially its social effects
- Prisoner-family ties, visitation and resettlement
- Family adversity and conflict, with reference to gender and race
- Cross-national studies of punishment and/or policing
- Theoretical and methodological studies, with reference to criminology and social problems.
Teaching
Youth, Crime, Control (Year 3), Law, Society, Social Control (Masters), Criminal Investigation (Year 2)
Publications
Highlights
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XJMYqqwAAAAJ&hl=en&inst=15262737669262836719&oi=ao
Books
McCarthy, D, J (2014) ‘Soft’ Policing: The Collaborative Control of Anti-Social Behaviour, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan
McCarthy, D, J, Adams, M (2023) The impact of youth imprisonment on the lives of parents, Abingdon, Routledge
Adams, M, Harman, V, Garland, J, McCarthy, D, Power, E, Brown, T (2024) Beyond Doing Porridge, London, Waterside Press.
Journal Publications
Brown, T, Adams, M, Harman, V, McCarthy, J, Garland, J, Power, E (2025) ‘We still have a duty of care, but how legitimate is her allergy to fish?’ Exploring how professionals in women’s prisons understand their role through the lens of food practices, Howard Journal, advanced access.
Power, E, Adams, M, Harman, V, Garland, J, McCarthy, D (2024) "‘Connection rather than output’: Reflections on the role of art workshops in qualitative research with women in prison.", International Journal of Qualitative Methods. Advanced access.
McCarthy et al (2025) Understanding public confidence in the police within democratic and authoritarian regimes, Public Administration and Development, 45 (1), 32-42
McCarthy, D., & Brunton-Smith, I. (2024). Attitudes towards the death penalty: An assessment of individual and country-level differences. European journal of criminology, 21(1), 116-139.
Chan, J. K. H., McCarthy, D., & Ho, L. K. K. (2023). Policing re-centralization or de-centralization? A study of state responses in England and Hong Kong during COVID-19. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, Vol 17,
McCarthy, D., Stoneman, P., & Ho, L. K. K. (2023). Explaining confidence in the police within transitional Hong Kong: the influence of postmaterial values. Policing and Society, 33(1), 96-110.
Adams, M, McCarthy, D (2022) The Needs and Experiences of Prisoners’ Families during Long Sentences, Prison Service Journal, Vol 261
McCarthy, D, Brunton-Smith, I (2021) El Efecto de la legitimidad penal en el desistimiento post-liberación de los presos, InDret, Vol 4.
Pepper, M, Bullock, K, McCarthy, D, (2021) ‘Exploring the Role and Contribution of Police Support Volunteers (PSV) in an English Constabulary, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 15 (4), 2015-2028
McCarthy, D, J, Adams, M (2021) Assessing the deployment of informal support networks for mothers of incarcerated young men, European Journal of Criminology, 18 (6), 799-816
Adams, M, McCarthy, D & O’Meara (2020) The Joint Enterprise Appeals Project: a crucible for Student Empowerment and Activism?' in Student Empowerment in Higher Education. Reflecting on Teaching Practice and Learner Engagement.
Adams, M, McCarthy, D, J (2020) Race and Parenting in the Context of Youth Incarceration, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43(16), 175-192.
Hollywood, A, McCarthy, D, Winstone, N & Spencely, C (2019) Overwhelmed at first”: The experience of career development in Early Career Academics" Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(7), 998-1012.
McCarthy, D, J, Adams, M (2019) Yes, I can still parent. Until I die, he will always be my son”: Parental responsibility in the wake of child incarceration, Punishment and Society, 21 (1), 89-106.
Bullock, K, Bunce, A, McCarthy, D, J (2019) ‘Making Good in Uncompromising Places’ International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 63(3), 406-423. (IF, 1.06).
McCarthy, D, J, Adams, M (2018) ‘Can prisoner-family relationships improve during incarceration? British Journal of Criminology, 59(2), 378-395 (IF, 2.632).
McCarthy, D, J, Brunton-Smith, I (2018) The Effect of Legitimacy on Prisoners’ Post-Release Desistance, Crime and Delinquency, 64(7), 917-938. (IF, 2.188).
McCarthy, D, Brunton-Smith, I (2017) 'Prisoner-family ties during imprisonment: Reassessing resettlement outcomes and the role of visitation', Prison Service Journal, September
McCarthy, D, Adams, M (2017) ‘Visitation as Human ‘Right’ or Earned ‘Privilege’ for Prisoners? The Differing Tales of England/Wales, and Scotland, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 39(4), 403-416.
Sindall, K, McCarthy, D, J, Brunton-Smith, I (2017) ‘Young People and the Formation of Attitudes towards the Police’, European Journal of Criminology, 14: 3, 344-364
Brunton-Smith, I, McCarthy, D, J (2017) ‘The effects of prisoner attachment to family on re-entry outcomes: A longitudinal assessment’, British Journal of Criminology, 57 (2): 463-482.
Brunton-Smith, I, McCarthy, D, J (2016) ‘Young People and Online Piracy: Assessing Patterns of Offending’, Victims and Offenders, 11 (4), 509-533
McCarthy, D, J (2016) Dangerous Dogs, Dangerous Owners and the Waste Management of an ‘Irredeemable’ Species, Sociology, 50 (3), 560-575.
Brunton-Smith, I, McCarthy, D, J (2016) Prisoner Perceptions of Legitimacy: Exploring the role of prison context and prisoner experience, Justice Quarterly, 33 (6), 1029-1054.
Bullock, K, McCarthy, D, J (2015) Conducting Systematic Reviews of Social Science Literature, in Gilbert, N, Stoneman, P (eds) Researching Social Life (Third Edition), London, Sage
McCarthy, D, J, O’Neill, M (2014) The Police and Partnership Working: A Review of Recent Research, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 8 (3): 243-253.
McCarthy, D, J (2014) Revolutions in Youth Justice Revisited, Criminal Justice Matters, 96 (1), September
O’Neill, M, McCarthy, D, J (2014) ‘(Re) Negotiating Police Culture through Partnership Working: Trust, Compromise and the ‘New’ Pragmatism’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 14(2), 143-159.
McCarthy, D, J (2013) ‘Gendering ‘Soft’ Policing: Multi-Agency Working, Female Cops, and the Fragilities of Police Culture/s’, Policing and Society, 23 (2), 262-278.
McCarthy, D, J (2011) ‘Classing Early Intervention: Social Class, Occupational Moralities and Criminalization’, Critical Social Policy, 31 (4), 495-516.
McCarthy, D, J (2010) ‘Self-Governance or Professionalized Paternalism? The Police, Contractual Injunctions, and the Differential Management of Deviant Populations’, British Journal of Criminology, Vol 50, 896-913.