Books.
These three books each represent a defining period of my career so far.
‘Studying Situational Interaction’ (2020) provides a bridge between strong complex theory about causal person-environment interaction in crime behaviour and the appropriate methods for empirically testing proposed situational mechanisms. It is underwritten by the principle that research should be driven by theory and served by method.
The book has been described as “essential reading for anyone interested in testing theories of action using ‘interaction effects’, not just in criminology.” by Clemens Kroneberg, Professor of Sociology at the University of Cologne.
K. Ryan Proctor reviewed the book in Criminal Justice Review.
My co-authored book ‘Breaking Rules’ (with Wikström, Oberwittler and Treiber; 2012) uses data from the first 5 years of the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study to comprehensively study the social and situational dynamics of urban crime by young people.
I’m proud of this book for the sheer volume of analysis on a wide range of topics that it contains, and the huge amount of work that went into producing it over many years.
This book has been cited nearly 900 times and was described as "one of the most significant works in criminology in decades" by co-author of A General Theory of Crime, Professor Michael Gottfredson.
My 2017 PhD research entitled 'Why monitoring doesn't always matter’ studies the situational role of parental monitoring in adolescent crime. It reflects a particular and critical interest in the data collection and analytical methodology required for the analysis of situational interaction (the interaction between people and settings) and contributes to the development of the situational model of Situational Action Theory with regards parental monitoring.
For this thesis, I was awarded the Nigel Walker Prize by the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, for distinctive scholarly contribution to the field of Criminology.
A number of my subsequent publications are rooted in this thesis, though the thesis itself still contains unique material.