Dr Patrick Williams
Senior Lecturer
My profile
Biography
Academic and professional qualifications
Patrick undertakes research and publishes in the area of ‘race’ and ethnicity, with a particular focus on racial disparity, disproportionality and differential treatment within the Criminal Justice System.
Most recently, he authored Being Matrixed: the (over)policing of gang suspects in London http://www.stop-watch.org/uploads/documents/Being_Matrixed.pdf on behalf of the Stopwatch charity which foregrounds the narratives through storied recollections of young peoples’ experiences of being registered and policed as a gang suspect. In addition, in 2016 he co-authroed Dangerous Associations: joint enterprise, gangs and racism.(with Becky Clarke). This study explores the complex, yet misconstrued associations of black people who are (police) identified as involved with serious violence. The findings demonstrates that the imposition of the gang label drives the imposition of harsh collective punishments and lengthy custodial sentences.
Having previously worked as a research and evaluation officer for the Greater Manchester Probation Trust (1997-2007) he continues to advise and support the development of interventions premised upon the principles of empowerment for a number of local and regional statutory and VCS organisations. In conjunction with colleagues in the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU - MMU) he was involved in the evaluation of short-term prisoner resettlement projects delivered by HMP Manchester and HMP Preston.
Patrick’s teaching is informed and enhanced by his extensive academic, research and evaluation experience providing his students with a ‘real-world’ context to our understanding of ‘crime’, deviance and control. He completed his first degreee in BA (Hons) Social Science at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 1997. In 2002, he completed his MA (Econ) in Crime, Law and Society at the University of Manchester. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) following completion of the PGC-AP in 2009. In 2017, he was awarded his PhD from Lancaster University under the supervision of Professor David Smith and Dr. Paul Iganski.
Other academic service (administration and management)
Co-founder of Sites of Resistance with Kathryn Chadwick and Becky Clarke https://sitesofresistance.org/
Criminology Coordinator (from September 2018)
MA Applied Criminology, Dissertation Coordinator (from September 2018)
Consultancy and advisory roles
2014 - Research advisor to 42nd Street http://42ndstreet.org.uk/ project on Mental and young Black men: a project funded through Manchester City Council Equalities Fund to explore the perceptions of Mental Health and the needs of young Black people in Manchester.
2013 - Programme design - Contribution to the design, development and implementation of The Clear Approach programme on behalf of the Care Leavers Association (CLA) http://www.careleavers.com/ and Greater Manchester Probation Trust, Intensive Alternative to Custody (IAC). An intervention informed by an empowerment approach to respond to the personal and social needs of young people under the supervision of the Probation Service.
2012 - Programme design - Contribution to the design, development, implementation and evaluation of the Yes You Can (YYC) groupwork intervention delivered by the Intensive Alternative to Custody project. A programme developed to the respond to the personal, social and criminogenic needs of young Black people under the supervision of Greater Manchester Probation Trust.
Community, charity and NGO links
A number of voluntary and charitable organisations
Teaching
Why do I teach?
“The vocation of the intellectual is to let suffering speak, let victims be visible, and let social misery be put on the agenda of those in power, and second, that moral action is based on a broad, robust propheticism that highlights systemic social analysis of the circumstances under which tragic persons struggle.” (Cornel West).
Why study…
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” (James Baldwin).
Postgraduate teaching
(In)Justice (Level 7)
Subject areas
Criminology
Research outputs
Patrick has been involved in the design, delivery and dissemination of research and evaluation projects for 20 years. He has undertaken work for local and national voluntary and charitable organisations (VCS) and criminal justice statutory organisations. He is proficient in the use of a broad range of quantitative and qualitiative approaches in order to respond to pertinent research questions.
His PhD thesis is entitled ‘Becoming the Other: the problematisation of post-war Jamaican immigrants and their descendants.’
Research Interest
‘Race’ and the Criminal Justice System; The evaluation of Criminal Justice Interventions; Negative constructions of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups and communities; The Prison Industrial Complex; Otherisation; Developing alternative responses to ‘crime’.
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Chapters in books
Harris, S., Joseph-Salisbury, R., Williams, P., White, L. (2023) 'Race, Policing and the Pandemic.' In Kay, C., Case, S. (ed.) Crime, Justice and Covid-19. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 137-149.
Harris, S., Joseph-Salisbury, R., Williams, P., White, L. (2023) 'Racism, Policing and the Pandemic.' Crime, Justice and COVID-19. pp. 137-149.
White, L., Williams, P. (2023) 'The Mystification of Police Institutional Violence.' Critical Criminological Perspectives. pp. 247-272.
Williams, P., Shankley, W. (2020) 'Minority Ethnic Groups, Policing and the Criminal Justice System in Britain.' In Shankley, W., Byrne, B., Alexander, C., Nazroo, J., Khan, O. (ed.) Ethnicity, Race and Inequality in the UK: State of the Nation.
Clarke, R.J., Williams, P. (2018) 'Contesting the Single Story: Collective Punishment, Myth-Making and Racialised Communities..' Media, Crime and Racism. Springer,
Williams, P., Durrance, P. (2017) 'Resisting effective approaches for BAME offenders in England and Wales: the triumph of inertia..' In Ugwudike, P., Raynor, P., Annison, J. (ed.) Evidence-based skills in criminal justice: International research on supporting rehabilitation and desistance.. Policy Press,
Williams, P. (2012) 'Designing and delivering programmes for minority ethnic offenders.' Offenders or Citizens? Readings in Rehabilitation. pp. 286-287.
Williams, P.K. (2005) 'Designing and delivering programmes for minority ethnic offenders.' In Lewis, S., Raynor, P., Smith, D., Wardak, A. (ed.) Race and Probation. Willan Publishing, pp. 145-163.
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Reports
Williams, P., Joseph-Salisbury, R., Harris, S., White, L. (2021) A threat to public safety: policing, racism and the Covid-19 pandemic. Institute for Race Relations.
Williams, P., Kind, E. (2019) Data-driven Policing: The hardwiring of discriminatory policing practices across Europe.. European Network Against Racism (ENAR).
Williams, P. (2018) Being Matrixed: the (over)policing of gang suspects in London. Stopwatch: Research and Actions for Fair and Inclusive Policing.
Williams, P.K., Clarke, B. (2016) Dangerous Associations: Joint enterprise, gangs and racism. London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
Williams, P.K., Fitzpatrick, C. (2014) Examining ‘Clear Approach’: An Intervention for Care Leavers on an Intensive Alternative to Custody Order. Lancaster: University of Lancaster.
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Journal articles
Williams, P.K., Fitzpatrick, C., Coyne, D. 'Supporting looked after children and care and care leavers in the Criminal Justice System: Emergent themes and strategies for change..' Prison Service Journal, (226) pp. 8-13.
Koch, I., Williams, P., Wroe, L. (2024) '‘County lines’: racism, safeguarding and statecraft in Britain.' Race and Class, 65(3) pp. 3-26.
Williams, P., White, L., Harris, S., Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2023) 'Omission, erasure and obfuscation in the police institutional killing of Black men.' Mortality, 28(2) pp. 250-268.
Mason, W., Williams, P. (2022) 'CiviAct: Negotiating ‘fields of paradox’ in anti-racist university community partnerships.' Methodological Innovations, 15(3) pp. 363-373.
Harris, S., Joseph-Salisbury, R., Williams, P., White, L. (2022) 'Notes on policing, racism and the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK.' Race and Class: a journal of racism, empire and globalisation, 63(3) pp. 92-102.
Williams, P., Clarke, R. (2020) '(Re)producing Guilt in Suspect Communities: The Centrality of Racialisation in Joint Enterprise Prosecutions.' International Journal For Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 9(3) pp. 116-129.
Williams, P., Clarke, R. (2018) 'The Black Criminal Other as an Object of Social Control.' Social Sciences, 7(11)
Clarke, R., Chadwick, K., Williams, P. (2017) 'Critical Social Research as a ‘Site of Resistance’: Reflections on Relationships, Power and Positionality.' Justice, Power and Resistance, Volume 1(Number 2) pp. 261-282.
Fitzpatrick, C., Williams, P.K. (2017) 'The neglected needs of care leavers in the criminal justice system: Practitioners' perspectives and the persistence of problem (corporate) parenting.' Criminology and Criminal Justice, 17(2) pp. 175-191.
Williams, P.K. (2015) 'Criminalising the Other: challenging the race and crime nexus.' Race and Class: a journal of racism, empire and globalisation,
Smithson, H., Ralphs, R., Williams, P. (2013) 'Used and abused the problematic usage of gang terminology in the united kingdom and its implications for ethnic minority youth.' British Journal of Criminology, 53(1) pp. 113-128.
Williams, P., Clarke, R. (2008) 'A perpetual sense of crisis… how to spend the £40 million.' Safer Communities, 7(3) pp. 9-13.
Williams, P.K., Durrance, P. (2003) 'Broadening the agenda around what works for black and Asian offenders.' Probation Journal, 50(3) pp. 211-224.
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Theses and dissertations
Fletcher, C. (2020) “Double Punishment” - The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA): A Qualitative Examination of the Post-Conviction Confiscation Punishment in England and Wales..
Williams, P.K. (2018) Becoming (an)other : an intergenerational exploration of storied encounters of migrations, processes of otherisation and identity (re)negotiations for post-war Jamaican families in Manchester, England.