Dr Helen Wells

Title: Lecturer in Criminology
Phone: (+44) 01782 7 33748
Email:
Location: CBB1.017
Role: Staff Student Liaison, Joint UG Criminology Exams Officer and Extenuating Circumstances Officer (shared role with Dr Clare Griffiths)
Contacting me: Office Hours Monday 11-12 and Wednesday 9.30-10.30
Wells_Helen

Helen graduated from Keele with a BA in Criminology and History (1st class) in 1998, before spending two years working in a Magistrates' Court. She returned to Keele in 2000, and graduated with a Masters in Criminology (with distinction) in 2001. After a period as a Community Safety Officer, Helen once again returned to Keele and was awarded her Ph.D in January 2007. She was appointed as a temporary, part-time lecturer in Criminology in January 2007 and became a permanent lecturer in June 2007.

  • Helen's research to date has focused on the controversies surrounding the use of speed cameras to enforce speed limits. This was the subject of her doctoral thesis entitled 'The fast and the furious: speeding and technologies of control in a risk society'.
  • Continuing Dr Wells' interest in 'the crimes of the law-abiding', she intends to conduct further research into the regulation of a variety of 'minor' offences including, for instance, the forthcoming ban on smoking in public places. She is particularly interested in exploring the way in which the conceptualisation of harm in 'risk' terms has resulted in the problematisation of not just new behaviours, but whole new populations of 'risky' people.
  • In partnership with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and Staffordshire County Council, Helen has successfully competed for RoSPA/BNFL funding and is currently evaluating an educational intervention aimed at reducing crash involvement amongst new drivers.
  • Helen is also one of eight funded participants on and ESRC/Surveillance Studies Network Seminar Series entitled ‘The Everyday Life of Surveillance’ and has recently won the Brian Williams Prize for the best first paper by a new academic  in a peer reviewed journal, awarded by the British Society of Criminology.

Selected Publications

  • Wells HM. 2012. The Fast and the Furious: Drivers, speed cameras and control in a risk society. (1st ed.). Surrey: Ashgate. link>
  • Wells HM, Cropper S, Turner J. 2011. Total Place and Alcohol Harm Reduction: Report on Service Recommendations for the Newcastle-under-Lyme Community Safety Partnership.
  • Wells H. 2011. Risk and expertise in the speed limit enforcement debate: Challenges, adaptations and responses. Criminology and Criminal Justice, vol. 11(3), 225-241. link> doi>
  • WELLS H and Wills D. 2009. Individualism and Identity: Resistance to Speed Cameras in the UK. Surveillance and Society. link>
  • Wells H. 2008. The Techno-Fix versus the Fair Cop: Procedural (in)justice and automated speed limit enforcement. British Journal of Criminology, vol. 48(6), 798-817. doi>

Full Publications List show

Books

  • Wells HM. 2012. The Fast and the Furious: Drivers, speed cameras and control in a risk society. (1st ed.). Surrey: Ashgate. link>

Journal Articles

  • Wells HM and Haines A. 2012. Persecution or protection? Understanding the differential public response to two road-based surveillance systems. Criminology and Criminal Justice, vol. 12(3). doi>
  • Wells HM and Barnard-Wills D. 2012. Surveillance, technology and the everyday. Criminology and Criminal Justice, vol. 12(3). doi>
  • Wells HM and Barnard-Wills D. 2012. Surveillance, technology and the everyday. Criminology and Criminal Justice, vol. 12(3). doi>
  • Wells H. 2011. Risk and expertise in the speed limit enforcement debate: Challenges, adaptations and responses. Criminology and Criminal Justice, vol. 11(3), 225-241. link> doi>
  • WELLS H and Wills D. 2009. Individualism and Identity: Resistance to Speed Cameras in the UK. Surveillance and Society. link>
  • Wells H. 2008. The Techno-Fix versus the Fair Cop: Procedural (in)justice and automated speed limit enforcement. British Journal of Criminology, vol. 48(6), 798-817. doi>
  • WELLS H. 2007. Risk, Respectability and Responsibilisation: Unintended driver responses to speed limit enforcement. Internet Journal of Criminology.
  • Wells H. 2004. Is there a place for covert research methods in criminology? A different approach. Graduate Journal of Social Science, vol. 1(1).

Other

  • Wells HM, Cropper S, Turner J. 2011. Total Place and Alcohol Harm Reduction: Report on Service Recommendations for the Newcastle-under-Lyme Community Safety Partnership.
  • WELLS H and Simkins L. 2010. A Process Evaluation of the Staffordshire Young Driver Coaching Programme Resource Pack. link>
  • WELLS HM. 2004. Speed Cameras. Parliamentary Office of Science and TechnologyPOSTnote 218.
  • Helen has recently taught on undergraduate Research Methods modules, as well as a special interest module entitled Risk and Criminal Justice.
  • She has led tutorials on the Understanding Crime, Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, Key Actors in the Criminal Justice Process, and Criminal Justice: Process, Policy and Practice modules.
  • She also led the third year Dissertation module and has taught on the Ethics in Policing and Criminal Justice Masters.