Staff Profiles

Modules taught

Crime in Theory and Practice

Globalisation and Crime 

Alice conducts research in the criminology sub-field of Border Criminologies, which is the intersection of immigration control and criminal justice. Her collaboratively funded ESRC and HMIP DPhil explored the experiences of women who had spent time in immigration detention in the UK. She used the concept of dignity to help explain the pains of immigration detention as described by the women who participated in the study. Alice is one of few academic researchers to have been given full access to an immigration removal centre to conduct this research. Alongside this access, she also visited women in the UK community who had been released from detention and visited Jamaica to speak with women who had been removed to this country after their incarceration. 

 

Research group membership

Alice is a member of Border Criminologies, which is a global research group bringing together academics, practitioners and people who have experienced border control. 

Research projects

Alice collaborates with Professor Mary Bosworth (Oxford University) on the Measure of Quality of Life in Detention (MQLD), which is a survey conducted within immigration removal centres to assess the living conditions within these spaces.  

Book chapters

• Gerlach A, 'Helping Women Prepare for Removal: The Case of Jamaica' in Khosravi S (ed.), After Deportation: Global Ethics, Palgrave Macmillan (2018)
  ISBN: 9783319572666 eISBN: 9783319572673
  Abstract

  This chapter examines the experiences of a group women removed to Jamaica from the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014. The research for this chapter took place over two months in Jamaica in 2015. Twenty-six women were interviewed and the majority of the interviews took place in Kingston. The women described precarious existences that were underwritten by perpetual deprivation. This chapter will provide a descriptive account of the lives of the women interviewed, placing it within literature on ‘preparedness’ in return migration. In particular it will compare the different trajectories of resettlement for women returning after a prison sentence, and those forcibly returned after overstaying their visa in the UK.
  

  Website 
• Gerlach A, 'Researching vulnerable women: Sharing distress and the risk of secondary and vicarious trauma' in Fili A, Jahnsen S, Powell R (ed.), Criminal justice research in an era of mass mobility, Routledge (2018)
  ISBN: 9781138284128 eISBN: 9781315269771
  

BOOK CHAPTERS

Gerlach, A. (2018) Helping women prepare for removal: The case of Jamaica in After Deportation: Ethnographic Perspectives, edited by Shahram Khosravi. London: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-3-319-57267-3

Gerlach, A. (2018) Researching vulnerable women: sharing distress and the risk of vicarious trauma in Criminal Justice Research in an Era of Mass Mobility, edited by Andriani Fili, Synnove Johansen and Rebecca Powell. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN: 978-1138284128

REPORTS & BRIEFING PAPERS

Gerlach, A (2018) Women in Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre. Research Brief prepared for the Shadow Home Secretary, UK Parliament.

Bosworth, M., and Gerlach, A (2017) Quality of Life in Detention: Results from MQLD questionnaire data collected in IRC Heathrow (Harmondsworth), July 4 – 6, 2017. Oxford Centre for Criminology: Border Criminologies

Gerlach, A. (2016) The Resettlement of Women after Forced Removal to Jamaica. Research Brief prepared for the British High Commission, Jamaica.

Gerlach, A and M., Bosworth (2016) Quality of Life in Detention: Results from MQLD questionnaire data collected in IRC Dungavel House, August 31 – September 2, 2016. Oxford Centre for Criminology: Border Criminologies

Bosworth, M., Gerlach, A., and D. Aitken. (2016) Understanding Staff Culture in IRC Heathrow. Oxford Centre for Criminology: Border Criminologies

Gerlach, A and M., Bosworth (2016) Quality of Life in Detention: Results from MQLD questionnaire data collected in IRC Yarl’s Wood, June 21 – 23, 2016. Oxford Centre for Criminology: Border Criminologies

Bosworth, M and A. Gerlach.  (2016) Quality of Life in Detention: Results from pilot revised MQLD questionnaire data collected in IRC Campsfield House, March 22 – 23, 2016. Oxford Centre for Criminology: Border Criminologies

Campos, C., Dent, A., Fry, R., Reid (Gerlach), A. (2010) Impact of the recession: Office for National Statistics

Reid (Gerlach), A & Miller, C (2010) Regional characteristics of foreign-born people living in the United Kingdom: Office for National Statistics

THEMATIC RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS

HM Inspectorate of Prisons, HM Inspectorate of Probation and Ofsted (2014) Resettlement provision for adult offenders: accommodation and education, training and employment.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons & Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (2012) The effectiveness and impact of immigration detention casework: A Joint thematic review by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. United Kingdom: HMIP

HM Inspectorate of Probation, HMCPSI, HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2012) Facing up to offending: Use of restorative justice in the criminal justice. United Kingdom: HMIP

BOOK REVIEWS

Gerlach, A. (2016) Book Review: The Routledge Handbook on Crime and International Migration edited by Sharon Pickering and Julie Ham (Routledge, 2014).

 

Areas of expertise

Alice has prior experience in the criminal justice detention estate as a researcher for HM Inspectorate for Prisons (HMIP), and further practical research experience as a researcher for the Office for National Statistics (ONS). She has professional expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research methods from these roles. 

Further information

Twitter: @AliceGerlach

BLOG POSTS

Gerlach, A. (2017) The Pains of Detention: Exploring the Concepts of Justice, Legitimacy and Dignity. Border Criminologies Immigration Detention Blog Series. Available at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2017/05/pains-detention

Gerlach, A. (2017) Research in detention centres: The psychological challenges. Social Science Division Blog, Oxford University. Available at https://www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/fieldworkers-experiences/research-in-detention-centres-the-psychological-challenges

Gerlach, A. (2017) Current DPhil: Alice Gerlach. Available at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/current-dphil-alice-gerlach

Gerlach, A. (2016) Alice Gerlach: Research Update. Available at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2016/10/research-update

Gerlach, A. (2015) From the Field: Safety in Fieldwork for the Researcher and the Participants. Available at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2015/10/field-safety

Gerlach, A (2014) Education in Immigration Detention. Available at: http://bordercriminologies.law.ox.ac.uk/education-in-detention 

Gerlach, A. (2014) Thinking about Dignity and Immigration Detention. Available at: http://bordercriminologies.law.ox.ac.uk/thinking-about-dignity

Gerlach, A. (2013) Developing European Standards of Detention. Available at: http://bordercriminologies.law.ox.ac.uk/developing-european-standards