Professor Sarah Armstrong

Professor (Sociological & Cultural Studies)
Elected Academic Staff members on Court (Academic Services)

telephone: 01413307715
email: Sarah.Armstrong@glasgow.ac.uk

R315 Level 3, Sccjr, Ivy Lodge, 63 Gibson Street

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614

Biography

My research focuses on prisons, prisoners and criminal justice exploring questions about the governance, organisation, representation and experiences of punishment. A key strand of my research is on policy as a key site and source of culture, and in the specific bureaucratic qualities and logics that arise in penal institutions. To explore such issues I draw on diverse methods (ethnography, statistical analysis, semiotics, discourse and metaphor analysis, evaluation) and theoretical sources (anthropology of policy, human geography, ANT/STS, critical theory).

I am currently working on a project called Paper Cuts: Prisons, Bureaucracy and Violence, exploring structural and administrative violence in prison and relating this to bureaucratic forms of organisation generally.

During COVID-19, I co-led the Scotland in Lockdown study, as part of a large team conducting rapid research on the impact of lockdown for groups already facing isolation (June 2020-Feb 2021). The study was funded by the Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government.

I was Director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (2016-19). I have a BA in history from Carleton College (Minnesota, USA); and a JD and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. I have been a visiting fellow at the Unviersity of Toronto and the University of California, Berkeley.

I am Co-editor in Chief of the journal Crime Media Culture with Katherine Bieber and Travis Linneman

Research interests

Research groups

Criminology

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2003 | 2002

Number of items: 59.

2024

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Barkas, Betsy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5259-9468, Allan, Linda, Allan, Stuart and Cairns, Deborah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2626-1554 (2024) Nothing to See Here? Deaths in Custody and FAIs in Scotland 2023. Technical Report. SCCJR, Glasgow.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Pickering, Lucy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1240-4059 (2024) A difference of sameness: home as a site of research in a study of Covid inequalities in Scotland. In: Abram, Simone, Lambert, Helen and Robinson, Jude (eds.) How to Live through a Pandemic (ASA Monograph 2020). Series: ASA monographs. Routledge: London, UK, pp. 114-132. ISBN 9781003359371 (doi: 10.4324/9781003359371-6)

Pickering, Lucy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1240-4059 and Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2024) Connected by Isolations: overlaps, refractions and difference in a four-fold view of lockdown inequality in Scotland. In: Abram, Simone, Lambert, Helen and Robinson, Jude (eds.) How to Live Through a Pandemic. Series: ASA Monographs. Routledge. ISBN 9781032397801

2023

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2023) Crisis or opportunity? International income growth in Scottish universities during Covid-19. Scottish Affairs, 32(4), pp. 425-448. (doi: 10.3366/scot.2023.0474)

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2023) Profiting from pandemic? Scottish Universities during Covid-19. Preprints.org, 2023060832. (doi: 10.20944/preprints202306.0832.v1)

2022

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Allan, Linda, Cairns, Deborah, Allan, Stuart and Barkas, Betsy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5259-9468 (2022) Still nothing to see here? One year update on prison deaths and FAI outcomes in Scotland. Discussion Paper. SCCJR.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Barkas, Betsy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5259-9468, Casey, Ryan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7672-1678, Cornish, Neil, Gormley, Caitlin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9601-2177, McNeill, Fergus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-6482 and Schinkel, Marguerite ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5804-5701 (2022) Prisoner experiences of Covid-19 Restrictions in Scotland during 2020. Working Paper. University of Glasgow.

2021

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Allan, Linda, Allan, Stuart, Barkas, Betsy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5259-9468 and Kinnear, Deborah (2021) Nothing to See Here?: Statistical Briefing on 15 Years of FAIs into Deaths in Custody. Technical Report. The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, Glasgow.

Barkas, Betsy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5259-9468, Allan, Linda, Allan, Stuart, Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Kinnear, Deborah (2021) A Defective System: Case Analysis of 15 Years of Fatal Accident Inquiries After Deaths in Prison. Project Report. The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, Glasgow.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Fletcher, Maria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8725-4895 (2021) 'It starts with conversations': Civic Engagement in the College of Social Sciences. Discussion Paper. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Biber, Katherine and Linneman, Travis (2021) Catching our breath: reading the pandemic through crime, media and culture. Crime Media Culture, 17(1), pp. 3-5. (doi: 10.1177/1741659020952586)

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Sokhi Watson, Dilraj (2021) Early impact of Covid-19 restrictions on Muslim & Black minority ethnic women in Scotland: analysis of survey data. Working Paper. University of Glasgow and Amina, The Muslim Women’s Resource Centre.

2020

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, McCulloch, Patricia, Weaver, Beth and Reed, Dominic (2020) Measuring Justice: Defining Concepts, Developing Practice. Project Report. SCCJR, Glasgow.

Armstrong, S. et al. (2020) Left out and locked down: impacts of COVID-19 for marginalised groups in Scotland. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Pickering, Lucy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1240-4059 (2020) Scotland in Lockdown: How Have COVID-19 Measures Affected Your Life? [Website]

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2020) At risk of rights: rehabilitation, sentence management and the structural violence of prison. Critical Criminology, 28(1), pp. 85-105. (doi: 10.1007/s10612-020-09503-7)

2019

Batchelor, Susan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1890-9661, Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and MacLellan, Donna (2019) Taking Stock of Violence in Scotland. Project Report. SCCJR, Glasgow.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and McGhee, John (2019) Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young People in Custody: Evidence Review. Project Report. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, Glasgow.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Reilly, James (2019) Analysis of EuroPris Survey on Prison Education in Europe. Project Report. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, Glasgow.

2018

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2018) The problem of punishment in a progressive society. Europe Now, 8 Nov.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2018) Securing prison through human rights: unanticipated implications of rights-based penal governance. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 57(3), pp. 401-421. (doi: 10.1111/hojo.12270)

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2018) The cell and the corridor: imprisonment as waiting, and waiting as mobile. Time and Society, 27(2), pp. 133-154. (doi: 10.1177/0961463X15587835)

2017

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Munro, Mary (2017) Scotland the Just? The SNP, crime and justice. In: Hassan, Gerry and Barrow, Simon (eds.) A Nation Changed?: The SNP and Scotland Ten Years On. Luath Press: Edinburgh, pp. 136-141. ISBN 9781912147168

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2017) Seeing and seeing-as: building a politics of visibility in criminology. In: Brown, Michelle and Carrabine, Eamonn (eds.) Routledge International Handbook of Visual Criminology. Series: Routledge international handbooks. Routledge: London, pp. 416-426. ISBN 9781138888630

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Jefferson, Andrew (2017) Disavowing 'the' prison. In: Moran, Dominique and Schliehe, Aanna K. (eds.) Carceral Spatiality: Dialogues between Geography and Criminology. Series: Palgrave studies in prisons and penology. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 237-267. ISBN 9781137560575 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-56057-5_9)

2016

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Blaustein, Jarrett and Henry, Alistair (Eds.) (2016) Reflexivity and Criminal Justice: Intersections of Policy, Practice and Research. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke. ISBN 9781137546418

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Blaustein, Jarrett and Henry, Alistair (2016) Impact and the reflexive imperative in criminal justice policy, practice and research. In: Armstrong, Sarah, Blaustein, Jarrett and Henry, Alistair (eds.) Reflexivity and Criminal Justice: Intersections of Policy, Practice and Research. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 1-30. ISBN 9781137546418 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-54642-5_1)

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Lam, Anita (2016) Policy as a Crime Scene. In: Armstrong, Sarah, Blaustein, Jarrett and Henry, Alistair (eds.) Reflexivity and Criminal Justice: Intersections of Policy, Practice and Research. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 101-122. ISBN 9781137546425 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-54642-5_5)

2015

Gormley, Caitlin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9601-2177, McBride, Maureen, Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Atkinson, Colin (2015) Hate Crime in Scotland: a Scoping Study for the Glasgow Hate Crime Working Group. Technical Report. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. (Unpublished)

2014

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2014) Re-thinking the time of punishment: a response to Valverde. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 14(4), pp. 392-398. (doi: 10.1177/1748895814541900)

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2014) Response 1: re-thinking the time of punishment: a response to Valverde. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 14(4), pp. 392-398. (doi: 10.1177/1748895814541900)

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2014) Capacity as philosophy: review of Lippke's Ethics of Plea Bargaining. Criminal Law and Philosophy, 8(1), pp. 265-281. (doi: 10.1007/s11572-013-9272-3)

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2014) Siting prisons, sighting communities: geographies of objection in a planning process. Environment and Planning A, 46(3), pp. 550-565. (doi: 10.1068/a45407)

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Wills, Diane (2014) Circles of support and accountability (COSA) in Scotland: practice, progress and questions. Scottish Journal of Criminal Justice Studies, 20, pp. 2-13.

2013

Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Weaver, E. (2013) Persistent punishment: user views of short prison sentences. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 52(3), pp. 285-305. (doi: 10.1111/hojo.12015)

McGuinness, Paul, McNeill, Fergus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-6482 and Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2013) The use and impact of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974): final report. Project Report. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, Glasgow.

Armstrong, S.C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2013) Using the future to predict the past: prison population projections and the colonisation of penal imagination. In: Malloch, M. and Munro, B. (eds.) Crime, Critique and Utopia. Series: Critical Criminological Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 136-163. ISBN 9781137009791

Malloch, M.S., McIvor, G., Schinkel, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5804-5701 and Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2013) The Elements of Effective Through-care - Part 1: International Review. Scottish Government - Community Justice Services. Technical Report. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, Glasgow.

2012

Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Barton, G. (2012) Reducing Reoffending: Review of Selected Countries: Final Review for Audit Scotland. Technical Report. Audit Scotland, Edinburgh, UK.

Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, McIvor, G., McNeill, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-6482 and McGuinness, P. (2012) International Evidence Review of Conditional (Suspended) Sentences: Final Report. Technical Report. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, Glasgow, UK.

Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and McNeill, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-6482 (2012) Reducing Reoffending: Review of Selected Countries. Project Report. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR), Glasgow.

2011

Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Malloch, M., Norris, P. and Nellis, M. (2011) Evaluation of the Use of Home Detention Curfew and the Open Prison Estate in Scotland. Project Report. Scottish Government Social Research, Edinburgh, UK.

Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2011) David Garland, 'Peculiar Institution: America's Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition': Review. Edinburgh Law Review, 15(3), pp. 490-492. (doi: 10.3366/elr.2011.0066)[Book Review]

2010

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and Weaver, Beth (2010) User Views of Punishment: The comparative experience of short prison sentences and community-based punishments. Project Report. University of Glasgow / University of Strathclyde.

Leverick, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5245-9874, Chalmers, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5423-8917, Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and McNeill, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-6482 (2010) Part of the establishment? A decade of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Scots Law Times(27), pp. 147-151.

2009

Leverick, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5245-9874, Chalmers, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5423-8917, Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and McNeill, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-6482 (2009) Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission: 10th Anniversary Research. Project Report. Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, Glasgow, UK.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and McNeill, F. (2009) Choice versus crisis: how Scotland could transform the way we think about prisons and punishment. Criminal Justice Matters, 75(1), pp. 2-4. (doi: 10.1080/09627250802699632)

Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2009) Nicola Lacey, 'The Prisoners' Dilemma: Political Economy and Punishment in Contemporary Democracies': Review. Edinburgh Law Review, 13(3), pp. 550-551. (doi: 10.3366/E1364980909000821)[Book Review]

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Hamilton-Smith, N. and Mackenzie, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9294-4732 (2009) Measuring Police Impact on Organised Crime: a Review of SCDEA’s Key Performance Indicators. Project Report. Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. (Unpublished)

2008

Armstrong, S.C. (2008) Crime pays - but for whom? Scottish Left Review, 48, pp. 8-9.

Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2008) Fixing Scotland's remand problem. In: Lightowler, C. and Hare, D. (eds.) Prisons and Sentencing Reform: Developing Policy in Scotland. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR): Glasgow, UK, pp. 10-14.

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614, Chistyakova, Y, Mackenzie, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9294-4732 and Malloch, M (2008) Circles of Support and Accountability: Consideration of the Feasibility of Pilots in Scotland. Project Report. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

2007

Armstrong, S.C. (2007) What good are markets in punishment? Prison Service Journal, 172, pp. 1-4.

2006

Armstrong, S. and McAra, L. (Eds.) (2006) Perspectives on Punishment: The Contours of Control. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199278763

Armstrong, S. and McAra, L. (2006) Audiences, borders, architecture: the contours of control. In: Armstrong, S. and McAra, L. (eds.) Perspectives on Punishment: The Contours of Control. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, pp. 1-30. ISBN 9780199278763

Armstrong, S.C. and McAra, L. (2006) Audience, borders and architecture: the contours of control. In: Perspectives on Punishment: The Contours of Control. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 1-30. ISBN 9780199278763

2003

Armstrong, S (2003) Bureaucracy, Private Prisons, and the Future of Penal Reform. Buffalo Criminal Law Review, 7(1), pp. 275-306.

2002

Armstrong, S (2002) The emergence and implications of a mental health ethos in juvenile justice. Sociology of Health and Illness, 24(5), pp. 599-620.

Armstrong, S (2002) Punishing not-for-profit: Implications of nonprofit privatization in juvenile punishment. Punishment and Society, 4(3), pp. 345-368. (doi: 10.1177/146247402400426789)

This list was generated on Sun Jun 15 09:59:23 2025 BST.

Number of items: 59.

Articles

Armstrong, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 (2018) The problem of punishment in a progressive society. Europe Now, 8 Nov.

Armstrong, S.C. (2008) Crime pays - but for whom? Scottish Left Review, 48, pp. 8-9.

Armstrong, S.C. (2007) What good are markets in punishment? Prison Service Journal, 172, pp. 1-4.

Armstrong, S (2003) Bureaucracy, Private Prisons, and the Future of Penal Reform. Buffalo Criminal Law Review, 7(1), pp. 275-306.

Armstrong, S (2002) The emergence and implications of a mental health ethos in juvenile justice. Sociology of Health and Illness, 24(5), pp. 599-620.

Armstrong, S (2002) Punishing not-for-profit: Implications of nonprofit privatization in juvenile punishment. Punishment and Society, 4(3), pp. 345-368. (doi: 10.1177/146247402400426789)

Book Sections

Book Reviews

Edited Books

Armstrong, S. and McAra, L. (Eds.) (2006) Perspectives on Punishment: The Contours of Control. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199278763

Research Reports or Papers

Armstrong, S. et al. (2020) Left out and locked down: impacts of COVID-19 for marginalised groups in Scotland. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.

Leverick, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5245-9874, Chalmers, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5423-8917, Armstrong, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-9614 and McNeill, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-6482 (2009) Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission: 10th Anniversary Research. Project Report. Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, Glasgow, UK.

Website

This list was generated on Sun Jun 15 09:59:23 2025 BST.

Grants

My research has been funded by:

Economic and Social Research Council
Leverhulme Trust
Adam Smith Research Foundation
Chief Scientist Office
Scottish Government
Third Sector organisations
Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research

Supervision

Current Students:

Martha O'Carroll (Glasgow/Joint Scholarship) Mapping the Politics of Penal Reform in Scotland

Nicola Ceesay (Glasgow/Joint Scholarship) Exploring the Lived Experience of Scotland's Discretionary Life Sentence: Orders for Lifelong Restriction

John McGhee (ESRC Datasets) Exploring Prisoner Health and Mortality Outcomes using Linked Datasets

Neil Cornish (ESRC Collaborative) Vulnerability of Prisoners in England and Scotland as Experienced by Prisoners and Defined by Prison Authorities

Betsy Barkas (ESRC) The role of the media in justice and investigation processes following deaths in custody in the UK

Helge Petersen (ESRC) The Racialisation of Law and Order – Political Struggles over Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice and Institutionalised Racism in Britain

Rachel Ferguson (ESRC) The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry as a Site of Statistical and Legal Knowledge Production

Elly Nowell (Leverhulme Trust) Development of Rape Shield Legislation

NJONGORO, BENSON MWANGI
N/A

Completed Students:

Rebecca Foster (Dawes Trust) Half in/half out: exploring the experiences of the families of prisoners in a Scottish prison visitors’ centre

Colin Atkinson (Strathclyde Police) Beyond cop culture: the cultural challenge of civilian intelligence analysis in Scottish policing

Kisty Deacon (What Works Scotland) Young People’s Experiences of Having a Family Member in Prison

David Usman (Nigerian TETF) The Procedural Justice Model Applied to Trust in and Legitimacy of the Police in Abuja, Nigeria

Meg Lambert Neocolonial discourses in the collection, exhibition, and study of illicit West African cultural objects

Christine Weirich Developing Crime Script Analysis and Situational Crime Prevention for Acting on Antiquities Trafficking Networks

Giuliana Tiripelli Peacemaking Journalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

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