Hutton Neil Prof

Contact Details

Research Interests

Professor Hutton has research interets in sentencing and punishment, sociology of criminal justice and penology and welcomes enquiries from prospective research students in these areas.

Recent Research Grants

• 2003-2005: ESRC Social Enquiry Reports and Sentencing in the Sheriff Courts £125,000
• 2010-2011 Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship: Sociology of Sentencing £30,000

Research Work In Progress

• From Intutition to Database: Translating Justice.
  This is a case study of the sentencing information system project which analyses the use of technoloogy to support sentencing using a theoretical framework drawn from a critical reading of actor network theory.
• Sociology of Sentencing:
  A research monograph which uses sociological and cultural approaches to extend our understanding of sentencing as a decision making process.

Biographical Summary

Professor Hutton was educated at the University of Edinburgh (MA, Ph.D.) and has worked at the Universities of Edinburgh, Dundee, and Victoria University, New Zealand. He joined Strathclyde in 1990 was appointed to a chair in 2001, and from 2005-2009 was Dean of the Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences. He was a member of the team which designed and implemented a sentencing information system for the High Court between 1993 and 2002 and has since conducted research into public opinion and sentencing, social enquiry reports and sentencing and public particpation in sentencing policy making. In September 2010, he was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to pursue further work on the sociology of sentencing. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research based at the University of Glasgow.

External Activities

Professor Hutton was a member of the Sentencing Commission for Scotland from 2003-2006. He has served on the board of SACRO and the visiting committee for Barlinnie Prison. He has both advised and given evidence to the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament on sentencing issues. He regularly reviews for the ESRC and a number of academic journals.