Welcome to our fourth project update. Scroll down to read more about the latest news, developments, and project activities that have been happening since our last newsletter.
Powerful Perpetrators is a 5-year European Research Council awarded/UKRI funded project looking at sexual misconduct and abuse perpetrated by UK professionals, and the regulatory and administrative justice mechanisms used to investigate and sanction their behaviour. In particular, the project focuses on professions that have a guardianship role (the police, the military, barristers, judges and politicians) or a confidante role (the clergy, doctors and psychiatrists) in society.
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New publication alert
Check out our new article in the Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice. The article, Sexual corruption: recognising the “abuse of power” in professional sexual misconduct, considers the value of applying a “sexual corruption” framework within criminal justice and administrative justice systems, to respond to sexual misconduct by England and Wales/UK public sector professionals. You can download the accepted manuscript here.
What we’ve been doing
As we’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, our main focus this year is data collection (more on that in our latest project update!), but that isn’t all we have been up to. Some of the other highlights from the past 3 months have included:
- Nate and Emma have created a tool that provides an overview of our data collection efforts in Stages 2, 3 and 4 of the project, so we can track progress and ensure consistency across the professions. You can take a look at the data collection tracker here.
- In July, we were joined by an undergraduate intern, Allegra Boka-Mawete. To learn more about what Allegra got up to while she was with us, you can check out a blog that she wrote for the University of Bristol here or take a look at the amazing poster she created below (you can click on the image to download the poster). Allegra, thank you for all your hard work!
- Emma and Allegra wrote a blog about doctors’ sexual misconduct for the Professional Standards Authority. You can read the blog here: Doctors’ sexual misconduct: a turn in the tide? | PSA
- Emma attended IMH’s Critical Neurodiversity Studies Conference.
- Nate attended the event, ‘Police Misconduct in the UK: Co-creating a research agenda for the future symposium’.
- Hannah hosted an event for the British International Studies Association: Hostile terrain: researching gender and abuse in the military amid backlash and backsliding.
- Emma presented their work at the Feminist Philosophy Conference in Iceland.
- Hannah spoke at the Aurora New Dawn Conference: ‘Joining Forces Against VAWG – Independent But Alongside’
- Natasha delivered a workshop on ‘Powerful Perpetrators’ to Year 12 students as part of the University’s ‘Insight into Bristol’ access programme.
Who we’ve been talking to
Nate and Natasha met with David Knowles, a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth. David served for 30 years as a police officer in Hampshire Constabulary, before joining Portsmouth as a police lecturer in 2021. His expertise and experience are in counter-terrorism work, problem-based learning and ethics. He is currently one year into a PhD evaluating the use of virtual reality programmes to support officers in practising ethical decision-making. This includes witnessing and reporting sexual misconduct. David will be trialling the programmes with new recruit, end-of-probation, and serving officer cohorts, and we look forward to learning more about his work over the coming years. More information about David’s work can be found on his website or LinkedIn profile.
Hannah and Natasha met with Zelda Perkins, the first woman to break a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), signed decades earlier, with Harvey Weinstein. Zelda has been campaigning for legislative and regulatory reform around the use of NDAs in the UK since 2017 and launched the international campaign Can’t Buy My Silence in September 2021. Zelda’s work has already contributed to new protections in higher education and for victims of crime, and most recently, to reforms to the Employment Rights Bill that will ban employers from using NDAs that silence workplace harassment and abuse. We are grateful to Zelda for sparing the time to share her insights into the (mis)use of NDAs with us.
In July, Natasha met with representatives of the Harrods Survivors Group to talk about designing a new form of redress for survivors of powerful perpetrators, specifically those cases where perpetrators are sustained by networked complicity through their organisations or social circles. Natasha also spoke to Sian Norris at Open Democracy for this related article.
Interesting news
- Politicians: Suffolk MP Patrick Spencer pleads not guilty to sexual assault – BBC News
- Police: Met Police sexual misconduct allegation hearings hit four-year high
- Military: MoD pays out £19.9m for sexual harassment complaints | openDemocracy
- Judges: Recorder who had sex in his judicial chambers issued with formal warning for misconduct | Law Gazette
- Barristers: Top lawyer ‘preyed on young women entering law’ – Channel 4 News
- Police: Sussex Police officer dismissed after abusing his position for a sexual purpose | Sussex Police
- Military: British Army in Kenya: Some soldiers using sex workers despite ban, inquiry finds – BBC News
- Doctors: Anger over ‘light touch’ sanction for doctor who had sexual relationship with teenage patient | The Independent
- Barristers: Barrister’s appeal against disbarment over sexual harassment of pupils dismissed by High Court | Law Gazette
- Religious leaders: Revd Bob Weldon, of Holy Trinity Church, Folkestone, pleads guilty to sexual assault
- Judges: Judge v Judicial Appointments Commission: Court of Appeal told recruitment process ‘opaque and unfair’ | Law Gazette
- Military: Ex-sergeant major admits sexually assaulting soldier who took her own life – BBC News
- Doctors: Doctor who left patient during operation to have sex with nurse allowed to practise | Greater Manchester | The Guardian
Political developments
- Doctors: NHS England have updated their sexual safety assurance framework.
- Military: A UK minister has admitted that rules banning armed forces from speaking out are unlawful.
- Religious leaders: MPs have said that the Church of England should rethink automatic secrecy of misconduct hearings.
- Higher education: The 1752 Group to has launched a new toolkit to address harassment and sexual misconduct experienced by postgraduate researchers.
- Politicians: There was a parliamentary debate on the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.
- Judges: In South Africa, the judiciary has adopted a new sexual harassment policy to curb abuses of power.
- Barristers: Last Monday, the independent review of bullying and harassment at the Bar chaired by Baroness Harriet Harman KC published their report. You can read a summary or download the entire report here.
Upcoming events
- Some of our colleagues here in the School for Policy Studies have just launched an art exhibition entitled, “Confronting Sextortion” at Bristol M-Shed. It is a participatory exhibition co-created by the University of Bristol research team, the Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG), and Rising Arts Agency. The Exhibition at M-Shed is open to the public from Tuesday 9th September to Sunday 5th October, between 10am-5pm Tuesday to Sunday each week.
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter, and we hope to hear from some of you in due course!
All the best,
Natasha, Nate, Emma, and Hannah (The PP team)
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