Researcher in Focus: Dr Ellen Reeves
Posted on: 26 June 2024 by Dr Ellen Reeves in 2024 Posts
For this edition of our 'Researcher in Focus' feature, we are pleased to meet Dr Ellen Reeves, Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology, and learn about her work on the unintended consequences of domestic violence law and policy reform.
Listen to Ellen talk about her work in more detail in this edition of our 'Researcher in Focus' podcast:
Ellen writes:
My research is concerned with the unintended consequences of domestic violence law and policy reform, particularly for marginalised societal groups. Within this, I question the assumptions of carceral feminism(s) and call for greater investment in prevention and transformational justice approaches to gender-based violence.
I completed my PhD at Monash University (Australia) in 2021and soon after began a role at the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre as a postdoctoral research fellow on criminalisation and policy reform. In 2023 I left Australia to join Liverpool’s Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology as a lecturer.
I’ve led and been involved in a number of large projects including a study on Australian’s experiences of coercive control and their views on its potential criminalisation ; a study on the merits and risks of domestic violence disclosure schemes; and a study on LGBTQ+ victim-survivors’ engagement with civil protection order systems.
I am currently working on my first monograph, Queer(y)ing civil law responses to domestic violence, which emerged from the latter study and is due to be published with Routledge next year. In this book, I draw on LGBTQ+ victim-survivors’ experiences of seeking legal protection for domestic violence, making the key argument that current legal responses are not fit for purpose, and it is time that we start to challenge the status quo about how best to respond to domestic violence – highlighting what we can learn from queer and trans abolition movements.
Across my focus on the unintended consequences of domestic violence law reform I have published a number of articles on policing, the courts, and legal systems abuse. My PhD research on the ‘misidentification’ of victim-survivors as perpetrators within civil protection order systems' has also had significant reach, and I have presented to and advised various government bodies and organisations on how best to respond to the issue.
Right now, I am building on my research by examining alternative sites of justice that exist outside of the legal system. For example, I have recently launched a survey for victim-survivors in the UK and Australia who are members of Facebook domestic violence support groups. I hope to continue this focus over the next few years, bolstering the transformative work already being done in the community to address and respond to gender-based violence.
Find out more about Ellen and her work on her staff page.
Keywords: Researcher in Focus.