Miss Isobel Ingram

I am a Lecturer in Applied Criminology at Canterbury Christ Church University, with previous professional experience working within the prison system. Before entering academia, I worked directly with prisoners in custodial and resettlement settings, supporting rehabilitation, risk management and resettlement across a complex caseload. My academic and professional interests span cultural criminology, prisons and punishment, violence against women and girls, human rights, criminal justice practice, inequality, and the ways in which crime, identity and culture are understood and represented.

A central strand of my research explores the policing and criminalisation of Black cultural expression, particularly UK drill and rap music. This sits within a broader interest in the historical policing of Black people and communities, structural inequalities within the criminal justice system, criminal evidence, questions of authenticity and representation, and the ways cultural knowledge can become intelligence, evidence or risk within criminal justice decision-making.

Alongside my academic work, I engage with criminal justice practitioners, legal professionals, campaign organisations, schools and other universities, bringing contemporary research and professional practice into both my teaching and wider public engagement.

I am an Associate Fellow of Advance HE and recipient of a CCCU Golden Apple Award in recognition of my contribution to teaching and student support.

I teach from Foundation Year through to Master’s level across Applied Criminology, Forensic Investigation and Law modules, with experience in module leadership, dissertation supervision and personal academic tutoring. My teaching has covered areas including Victimology, Sexual and Domestic Abuse, Crime and Social Harm, Law: Justice in Crisis, Introduction to Applied Criminology and Forensic Investigations, Contemporary Controversies and more.

My teaching is strongly research and practitioner informed. Drawing on my previous experience working directly with prisoners, I incorporate professional practice, rehabilitation, risk management, resettlement and the realities of custodial environments into my teaching. This includes discussion of interpersonal and professional skills required when working with people who have complex needs.

I am particularly interested in interdisciplinary teaching that brings criminology into conversation with law, policing, sociology, psychology and forensic investigation. This includes exploring difficult questions around evidence, victimisation, punishment, inequality, professional decision-making and the different ways disciplines understand crime and harm.

I have designed and led immersive multidisciplinary learning experiences involving students from Criminology, Policing, Law, Forensic Investigation and Paramedic Science, alongside practitioners from across the University and wider criminal justice sector. These have included simulated investigations involving transnational crime, crimes of dishonour and human trafficking, allowing

students to experience the challenges of multi-agency working, evidence gathering, victim care and legal decision-making.

I also lead work relating to attainment equality and inclusive practice through Applied Criminology's Closing Our Gap initiative.

My research sits broadly within cultural criminology, criminal justice, race and inequality, with a particular interest in how culture, identity and behaviour come to be interpreted as criminal.

My current PhD examines the contested relationship between drill music and criminality and the ways the genre is used as evidence in criminal trials. This research extends beyond the use of lyrics alone. I am interested in how meaning is constructed within criminal justice processes, including the interpretation of music, imagery, language, social media activity, friendship groups and alleged gang association. This includes wider questions around criminal evidence, cultural expertise, institutional decision-making and who is given authority to determine what cultural expression means and represents.

An important strand of my research considers the longer history of policing Black people and Black cultural expression. I am interested in how contemporary responses to drill and rap sit within broader histories of surveillance, racial stereotyping, social control and the criminalisation of Black culture.

I am also interested in authenticity and representation, particularly the ways rap and drill blur performance, persona, exaggeration and lived experience. This raises important questions about when artistic expression is interpreted as fiction, identity, autobiography or evidence, and how cultural understandings of authenticity can differ from institutional understandings of truth and criminality.

My PhD builds on my Masters by Research, which used online ethnographic interviews with drill artists, producers and listeners to critically examine the criminalisation and censorship of UK drill. This research subsequently informed my co-authored book chapter, ‘Policing Popular Music – “Therapy in the Trap”: An Online Ethnography of UK Drill and Grime Artists, Producers and Listeners’, published in Popular Music Ethnographies by Intellect in 2025.

My developing research also involves courtroom observation and engagement with legal practitioners, allowing me to examine how cultural material, expert knowledge, gang narratives, questions of relevance and prejudice, and broader evidential decision-making operate in practice.

Beyond cultural criminology, my wider research interests include femicide and violence against women and girls, criminal responsibility, human rights, victimisation, structural inequalities within the criminal justice system, and the relationship between academic research, policy and professional practice.

I am an active member of the Art Not Evidence campaign and legal subcommittee, which brings together academics, lawyers, artists, youth workers, campaigners and others concerned with the use of rap and drill music within criminal proceedings.

My involvement includes courtroom observation, research and briefings, engagement with legal professionals, and informal academic support and knowledge exchange with criminal defence practitioners in relation to the interpretation and contextualisation of their client’s cultural material as criminal evidence. I have also been involved in Parliamentary engagement to advocate for Art Not Evidence’s position in relation to the Crown Prosecution Service’s review of guidance on the use of music and creative expression as evidence in criminal trials.

I regularly present my research to academic, professional and public audiences. I have spoken at the Innocence Project London Annual Symposium at the University of Greenwich, where I discussed the historical policing and criminalisation of Black music, the interpretation of rap lyrics, authenticity, and the use of creative expression within criminal trials. I have also delivered invited talks at Dulwich College's Hip-Hop Society and other schools and educational settings, introducing younger audiences to debates around music, crime, policing, race, representation and criminal justice. I particularly value opportunities to make criminological research accessible beyond the university and to encourage younger audiences to engage critically with contemporary criminal justice issues.

My wider external networks include academics and practitioners across universities, criminal defence, prisons, probation, policing, campaign organisations and the voluntary sector. These include links with Art Not Evidence, Innocence Project London, Kent Police College, Change Grow Live and contacts across the Sheppey prison cluster. These relationships support knowledge exchange, research development, professional engagement and opportunities for students.

I contribute to the wider academic community through peer review, including work for the International Journal of Youth Studies and YOUNG.