Dr Amy Burrell BSc, MSc, FHEA, PhD

School of Psychology
Research Fellow

Contact details

Email: a.burrell@bham.ac.uk

Amy is a researcher with a background in forensic psychology. She works on multiple research projects at the University of Birmingham, predominantly focused on topics such as sexual violence, behavioural crime linkage, and policing.

Open all sections

Qualifications

PhD Forensic Psychology (University of Leicester)
MSc Forensic Behavioural Science (University of Liverpool)
BSc Applied Psychology (University of Durham)
Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (Birmingham City University)
NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Equality and Diversity (Leicester College)

Biography

Dr Amy Burrell has been researching in crime and policing for over 15 years. She graduated from University of Durham with a degree in Applied Psychology in 2002 before going onto complete an MSc in Forensic Behavioural Science at University of Liverpool the following year. After 4 years working as a Research Fellow for the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science she returned to education to complete a PhD (part time) in Forensic Psychology at the University of Leicester. Her PhD was on behavioural crime linkage (i.e. a method for identifying whether you can identify series of offences committed by the same person based on their crime scene actions) in personal robbery. After completing her PhD in 2013, Amy moved to the University of Birmingham to become the Network Facilitator for the Crime Linkage International Network (C-LINK) (www. crimelinkage.org). She then moved to teaching roles for 6 years – Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at Birmingham City University and Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Forensic Psychology at Coventry University – before returning to research in January 2021. She is a Research Fellow at University of Birmingham predominantly working on projects related to sexual violence, spiking, and policing.

Research

Amy’s research interests include property crime – in particular personal robbery, behavioural crime linkage, group offending, group decision-making, and violent crime.

Other activities

Editorial Board Member – Criminal Justice and Behavior
Editorial Board Member – Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling
Editorial Board Member - Journal of Criminal Psychology
External Examiner - MSc Cybercrime, Terrorism and Security, University of Plymouth

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Burrell, A 2022, Robbery: The tipping point between theft and violence. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93173-5

Burrell, A (ed.) & Tonkin, M 2020, Property Crime: Criminological and Psychological Perspectives. Routledge. <https://www.routledge.com/Property-Crime-Criminological-and-Psychological-Perspectives-1st-Edition/Burrell-Tonkin/p/book/9781138632479>

Article

Wüllenweber, S & Burrell, A 2023, 'The crime and the place: Robbery in the night‐time economy', Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1616

Wuellenweber, S & Burrell, A 2020, 'Offence characteristics: a comparison of lone, duo, and 3+ perpetrator robbery offences', Psychology, Crime and Law, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 122-139.

Woodhams, J, Tonkin, M, Imre, H, Winter, JM, Lam, E, ten Brinke, G-J, Webb, M, Labuschagne, G, Bennell, C, Ashmore-Hills, L, van der Kemp, J, Lipponen, S, Pakkanen, T, Rainbow, L, Salfati, CG, Santtila, P & Burrell, A 2019, 'Linking serial sexual offences: moving towards an ecologically valid test of the principles of crime linkage', Legal and Criminological Psychology, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 123-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12144

Tonkin, M, Pakkanen, T, Sirén, J, Bennell, C, Woodhams, J, Imre, H, Winter, JM, Lam, E, Ten Brinke, G, Webb, M, Labuschagne, GN, Ashmore-hills, L, Van Der Kemp, JJ, Lipponen, S, Rainbow, L, Salfati, CG, Santtila, P & Burrell, A 2017, 'Using offender crime scene behavior to link stranger sexual assaults: a comparison of three statistical approaches', Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 50, pp. 19-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2017.04.002, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2017.04.002

Burrell, A, Bull, R, Bond, J & Herrington, G 2015, 'Testing the impact of group offending on behavioural similarity in serial robbery', Psychology, Crime and Law, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 551-569. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2014.999063

Chapter

Burrell, A & Tonkin, M 2020, Behavioural Crime Linkage in Rape and Sexual Assault Cases. in S Kewley & C Barlow (eds), Preventing Sexual Violence. Policy Press, pp. 111-130.

Ashmore-Hills, L, Burrell, A & Tonkin, M 2017, Behavioural Crime linkage and multi-agency working. in Handbook of Risk Management and the Criminal Justice System. Palgrave, pp. 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63573-6_1

Comment/debate

Burrell, A, Costello, B, Hobson, W, Morton, R, Muñoz, CG, Thomas, K & Kloess, JA 2023, 'Being prepared for emotionally demanding research', Communications Psychology, vol. 1, no. 1, 9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-023-00008-x

Commissioned report

Evans, E, Christie, C, Chandan, J & Burrell, A 2024, The Suffolk Police youth engagement team (YET): Theory of change and feasibility study report. College of Policing. <https://library.college.police.uk/docs/CoP/Suffolk-YET-summary-report-combined-2024.pdf>

Burrell, A, Woodhams, J, Gregory, P & Robinson, E 2023, Spiking: Prevalence and Motivation.

Burrell, A, Evans, E & Nokes, K 2022, A synthesis of evidence on early intervention from three programme evaluations: Trusted adult workers, family safety plans and Think Family Early Intervention: Vulnerability and Violent Crime Programme. College of Policing. <https://assets.college.police.uk/s3fs-public/2022-06/Synthesis-of-evidence-from-three-programme-evaluations.pdf>

Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

Burrell, A, Slater, C & Davies, K 2024, Profiling. in P Caeiro, S Gless, V Mitsilegas, MJ Costa, J De Snaijer & G Theodorakakou (eds), Elgar Encyclopedia of Crime and Criminal Justice. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789902990.profiling

Literature review

Burrell, A, Costello, B & Woodhams, J 2024, 'Methods used to link crimes using behaviour: A literature review', Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 79, 102014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2024.102014

View all publications in research portal