Rate My Professor Jo Phoenix

Phoenix has significantly influenced criminology education across UK universities through extensive curriculum development, including designing undergraduate programmes and modules. At Reading, she teaches a dedicated criminology module to LLB Law finalists and developed the new BSc Criminology programme, incorporating ethics workshops, real ethical dilemmas, and dissertation projects using empirical crime and justice datasets. Her key publications include Making Sense of Prostitution (1999), Regulating Sex for Sale: Prostitution Policy Reform in the UK (2009, Policy Press), and Against Youth Justice and Youth Governance, for Youth Penality (2016, British Journal of Criminology). She authored the first sustained study of women in UK prisons, sparking academic focus on poverty, male violence victimhood, and women's criminal justice experiences. Phoenix advises policymakers as a member of the Changing Lives Stage Project Influencers’ Group, shaping national policy on sexually exploited adults, and serves on the Advisory Board of Sex Matters, contributing to policy reform in women and criminal justice. She welcomes PhD supervision and actively engages students in practical criminological research.