School of Social and Political Science

Background

Qualifications

MA, MSc, PhD (all Edinburgh)

Biographical statement

I joined Social Policy as a lecturer in August 2009. Prior to this I worked for two years as a Research Fellow at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. I was awarded my PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2009 for my thesis “Policing priorities in London: Do Borough Characteristics Make a Difference?” I am a associate of both the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research and the Scottish Institute for Policing Research.

My research interests focus on the relationship between social context, political economy and crime and justice. In particular, I have a keen interest in peoples’ attitudes towards the criminal justice system and how criminal justice policy relates to a country’s wider social and political context.

I mainly undertake quantitative research, focussing on the use of latent variable models, event history analysis and multilevel modelling.

Teaching

I teach on a range of the School's methodology courses, including the compulsory Graduate School coures Core Quantitative Data Analysis and Data Collection. In addition, I lecture on the substantive MSc courses Comparative Analysis of Social and Public Policy, Crime and Economic Issues in Public Policy.

At an undergraduate level I lecture on the first year course, Social Policy and Society, and the new Q-Step Honours course, Multilevel Modelling for Social Science.

Publications

Journal Articles

McVie, S, Norris, P and Pillinger, R (2015) , "Is poverty reflected in changing patterns of victimisation in Scotland?", Scottish Justice Matters

McVie, S, Norris, P and Pillinger, R (2015), "Has Scotland’s Falling Crime Rate Benefited Everyone Equally?", Scottish Justice Matters

MacQueen, S and Norris, P (2014), "Police Awareness and Involvement in Cases of Domestic and Partner Abuse", Policing and Society

Hope, T and Norris, P. (2012) "Heterogeneity in the Frequency Distribution of Crime Victimization", Journal of Quantitative Criminology

Norris, P. (2010) "Families of Nations, Victimisation and Attitudes Towards Criminal Justice", International Review of Victimology

Book Chapters

Norris, P (2015) "Comparing Difficulties and Combination Possibilities: Exeriences in the United Kingdom", in Guzy, N, Birkel, C and Mischkowitz, R (eds) Viktimisierungsbefragungen in Deutschland - Band 2: Methodik und Methodologie. Wiesbaden: BKA

Hough, M. and Norris, P. (2009) “Comparisons Between Survey Estimates of Crime and Crimes Recorded By The Police: The UK Position”, in Robert, P (ed) Comparing Crime Data in Europe. Brussels: VUBpress.

Norris, P (2007) "Public Order Expenditure Across Industrialised Countries" in Castles, F (ed), The Disappearing State?, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar

Fraser, N and Norris, P (2007) "Data on the Functions of Government: Where are we now?" in Castles, F (ed), The Disappearing State?, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar