Betsy Stanko

Last updated
Professor

Betsy Stanko

OBE
Born1950 (age 73–74)
Indiana
Alma materCUNY
Occupation(s)Criminologist, researcher, academic
Known forResearch into policing of violence against women and girls.

Elizabeth Anne Stanko OBE (born December 30, 1950) is an American/British criminologist academic and researcher living and working in the UK. Stanko was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Queens Birthday Honours for her services to policing. [1]

Contents

Career

Stanko holds a PhD from Graduate Center of the City University of New York, has worked at Clark University (US), Brunel University, Cambridge University and is an Emeritus Professor at Royal Holloway, a Visiting Professor at University College London, City University of London and Sheffield Hallam universities. [2] [3] [4] [5] Her former graduate students include the sociologist Claire Maxwell.

Stanko was part of a historic sexual harassment case against a university in 1981 which gained support from campaigners in the women's movement including Andrea Dworkin and Adrienne Rich. [6] [7] [8]

She worked as head of evidence and insight in the Mayor of London's Office for Policing and Crime. [2]

Stanko's research has been described as feminist criminology, exploring the impact of gender areas of law, crime and policing, combining criminology and women's studies. [9] [10] [11] She served as Director of the ESRC Violence Research Programme 1997–2002.

In researching police responses to violence against women and girls Stanko has challenged stereotypes and highlighted particular vulnerabilities of some groups of women. [12] Cultural factors influence the likelihood of the case being taken forward such as the ethnicity of the suspect, perceived inconsistencies in the victim's account and other aspects such as previous behaviour and mental health. Stanko has argued that the rape of some groups of women has become "effectively decriminalised" with a remote chance of conviction in the UK. [13]

Operation Soteria Bluestone

Jointly with Katrin Hohl, [14] Stanko co-led the £6.6m, multiyear Operation Soteria Bluestone a collaborative programme of research for the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), hosted by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) funded by The Home Office into the policing of rape. [15] [16] [17] [18] The project investigated 19 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales. [7] The research offered insight and evidence from police forces to inform reform of the national operating model for the investigation of rape and serious sexual assault.

The research alleged controversial comments by Sir Stephen House following the resignation of Dame Cressida Dick, [19] [20] which an IOPC investigation later found to be largely unproven after other attendees at the meeting said they did not recall him making them. [21] The report highlighted cultural issues of misogyny, sexism and racism in policing which shape how victims are treated, disbelieved, blamed or stereotyped. [20]

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References

  1. ↑ "Order of the Companion of Honour" (PDF). GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
  2. 1 2 "Betsy Stanko". Early Intervention Foundation. 2018-07-26. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  3. ↑ "Betsy Stanko". podcasts.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  4. ↑ "Betsy Stanko | University College London - Academia.edu". ucl.academia.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  5. ↑ "The Centre for City Criminology | City, University of London". www.city.ac.uk. 2022-06-13. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  6. ↑ Stanko, Betsy (2020-06-17). "Basta". The Sociological Review. doi: 10.51428/tsr.zbqr2589 .
  7. 1 2 Denes, Melissa (2023-03-07). "'I know where the bodies are buried': one woman's mission to change how the police investigate rape". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  8. ↑ "From the Trash to the Archive: Preserving the Legacy of Ximena Bunster | Columbia Global Centers". globalcenters.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  9. ↑ Just authority? : trust in the police in England and Wales. Jonathan Jackson (1st ed.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 2013. ISBN   978-0-203-10561-0. OCLC   1086553371.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ↑ Stanko, Elizabeth A. (May 1995). "Women, Crime, and Fear". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 539 (1): 46–58. doi:10.1177/0002716295539001004. ISSN   0002-7162. S2CID   145294697.
  11. ↑ Hanmer, Jalna; Radford, Jill; Stanko, Elizabeth, eds. (2013). Women, Policing, and Male Violence (Routledge Revivals): International Perspectives. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203514771. ISBN   9781134100873.
  12. ↑ Hohl, Katrin; Stanko, Elisabeth A. (May 2015). "Complaints of rape and the criminal justice system: Fresh evidence on the attrition problem in England and Wales". European Journal of Criminology. 12 (3): 324–341. doi:10.1177/1477370815571949. ISSN   1477-3708. S2CID   145434020.
  13. ↑ University, Durham. "The Damage Caused by Incompetent Rape Response - Durham University". www.durham.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  14. ↑ "Katrin Hohl Academic Profile, City University London". City University, London. 31 January 2020.
  15. ↑ "Written evidence submitted by Dr Kari Davies, University of Birmingham, Dr Miranda Horvath, Middlesex University, Dr Katrin Hohl, City University London, Joanna Lovett, London Metropolitan University, Professor Betsy Stanko OBE UCL, City University London, Sheffield Hallam University and Royal Holloway and Dr Emma Williams, Open University". May 2021.
  16. ↑ "Operation Soteria – Transforming the Investigation of Rape". National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
  17. ↑ "Operation Soteria Year One Report". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  18. ↑ "Operation Soteria Bluestone". College of Policing. September 2021. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  19. ↑ "Exclusive: Former Acting Met Commissioner facing investigation over alleged comments that many rape complaints were "regretful sex"". Channel 4 News. 2023-03-01. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  20. 1 2 EVAW (2022-12-15). "Police consider rape 'regretful sex', Operation Soteria finds". End Violence Against Women. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  21. ↑ "Sir Stephen House will not face disciplinary proceedings following 'spiky' meeting", Police Oracle, 18 March 2024
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