Lea Sitkin

DPhil Criminology

Lea Sitkin came to the Centre for Criminology in October 2010, having completed her MSc in Comparative Social Policy (Research) at Oxford University that same year. She was awarded a distinction overall for her Masters and for her dissertation, which looked at the relationship between economic insecurity and punitive social/penal policy. Lea is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Mary Bosworth and Prof. Nicola Lacey. Building on her previous interest in the political economy of punishment, her thesis looks at the way in which the measures, politics and impacts of policy measures criminalising migrants (in particular, migrant workers) differ across the varieties of capitalism. To this end, Lea will be conducting extensive field work in the UK and in Germany next year. Outside of her thesis, Lea volunteers as a detention support worker for detainees at a local detention centre. She is also looking forward to conducting research on poverty, social exclusion and social cohesion in London this summer.