Dr Luke Vinter

About

I am a Senior Lecturer in Applied Criminology and a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) with the British Psychological Society. Prior to my role here at the University of Derby, I was a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University and held several posts there between 2016-2023.

Before becoming a lecturer, I was a PhD researcher at Nottingham Trent University, and my research focussed on working with autistic individuals in prison-based interventions to address sexual offending. My current research interest and consultancy focus on working with/supporting vulnerable prisoner groups, offending behaviour interventions, and lived experiences. I have a keen interest in working with neurodivergent individuals in the criminal justice system (particularly autistic individuals).

Research interests

My main research area is applied forensic psychology. My research experience is predominantly applied qualitative, prison-based research. My PhD was a mixed-method project, which focused on working with autistic individuals in prison-based interventions to address sexual offending. I am also currently involved with projects relating to the qualitative evaluation of prison-based offending behaviour programmes.

My specific research interests include:

Autism, offending and the criminal justice system
Lived experiences of/supporting vulnerable prisoner groups
Neurodiversity in the criminal justice system
Interventions to address offending behaviour
Participatory research

Recent publications

Vinter, L. P., Harper, C., Dillon, G., & Winder, B. (2024). Mental wellbeing, but not prison climate, mediates the association between autistic traits and treatment readiness among men with sexual convictions. Journal of Sexual Aggression. 1-17.
Woodhouse, E., Hollingdale, J., Davies, L., Al-Attar, Z., Young, S., Vinter, L. P., Agyemang, K., Bartlett, C., Berryessa, C., Chaplin, E., Deeley, Q., Freckelton, I., Gerry, F., Gudjonsson, G., Mattison, M., McCarthy, J., Mills, R., Misch, P., Murphy, D., & Allely, C. (2024). Identification and support of autistic individuals within the UK Criminal Justice System: a practical approach based upon professional consensus with input from lived experience. BMC Medicine, 22(1), 1-30
Rawdon, N., Vinter, L. P., & Wheatley, R. (2024). Exploring the experiences of an autistic male convicted of stalking: a case study approach. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology
Vinter, L. P., Dillon, G., Winder, B., & Harper, C. (2023) A multi-perspective qualitative study about working with autistic individuals in prison-based interventions to address sexual offending. Sexual Abuse
Vinter, L. P., & Dillon, G. (2023) Chapter IV: Autism in prisons. In: Smith, T., ed., Autism and Criminal Justice: The Experience of Suspects, Defendants and Offenders in England and Wales. Routledge
Vinter, L. P., Dillon, G., & Winder, B. (2020). ‘People don’t like you when you’re different’: Exploring the prison experiences of autistic individuals. Psychology, Crime & Law, 29(3), 243-262
Vinter, L. P., & Dillon, G. (2020) Autism and Sexual Crime. In: Hocken, K. Elliott, H., Lievesley, R., Winder, B., Blagden, N., & Banyard, P., eds., Sexual Crime and Intellectual Functioning. Palgrave Macmillan
Dillon, G., Vinter, L. P., Winder, B., & Finch, L. (2018). ‘The guy might not even be able to remember why he's here and what he's in here for and why he's locked in’: residents and prison staff experiences of living and working alongside people with dementia who are serving prison sentences for a sexual
offence. Psychology, Crime & Law, 25(5), 440-457

Membership of professional bodies

Chartered Membership (CPsychol) British Psychological Society
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) Advance HE
Member of the British Society of Criminology

Qualifications

PhD in Applied Forensic Psychology, Nottingham Trent University
MSc Psychology (Conversion), University of Chester
BA (Hons) Law with Criminology, Aberystwyth University

Recent conferences

Vinter, L. P., (2024) Exploring the life stories of autistic men convicted of sexual crimes. Presented at British Society of Criminology (BSC) Conference, Glasgow, UK.
Vinter, L.P., (2024) Exploring pathways to sexual offending for autistic individuals and considerations for prevention. Invited talk, to be presented at the Sexual Offending, Vulnerability and Policing Conference, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). Preston, UK.
Vinter, L.P. (2023) ‘Autism in prisons: an exploration of lived experiences, challenges and needs’. Invited talk, to be presented at the Neurodiversity in the Criminal Justice System: Offending, Police Investigative Interviewing, Courtroom and Prison, ESRC Science Festival One-Day Conference. Salford, UK
Blagden, N., Vinter, L.P., Clayton, J., Penford, E. (August, 2023) ‘Experiences of autism in prison-based interventions to address sexual offending’. Part of a symposium: ‘Rehabilitation and Reintegration for Men with Sexual Convictions: Compassion, Collaboration and Commitment’. Presented and chaired at the 17th International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO) Conference. Trondheim, Norway

Experience in industry

I have collaborated with a number of external professionals and organisations (e.g. HMPPS, ICCLR, NICJN), to advise and support professionals on how to best work with autistic individuals in a variety of forensic contexts. I have worked on projects related to developing online autism training packages for prison staff and adapting existing forensic materials/tools for use with neurodivergent individuals more generally. For example, recently, I was commissioned to adapt an existing Safety and Support Planning (SASP) tool used in HMPPS, to make it more suitable for use with neurodivergent individuals, which is to be rolled out and implemented nationally across HMPPS services. Most recently, I have been involved with Ministry of Justice commissioned evaluations of two accredited prison-based offending behaviour programmes.

In my consultancy role, my external work often involves delivering guidance, support and training to professionals working with autistic individuals in forensic contexts. For example, I have delivered autism and neurodiversity training workshops for prison staff across a number of HMPPS establishments and charitable organisations (e.g., Switchback and the Safer Living Foundation).

International experience

In 2021-2022, I was invited to be a consultant on the International Centre on Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR) Advisory Panel for the ‘ASD Training in Corrections project, in collaboration with Correctional Service Canada, and Autism and/or Intellectual Disability Knowledge Exchange (AIDE) Network Canada. This involved co-designing and advising on developing online autism training for corrections (prison) staff in Canada: ‘Autism in Corrections’.

The online course created through this project is now being offered to Correctional Services Canada staff (across all Canadian federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions), to increase their awareness of the impacts of autism in correctional environments.

Teaching responsibilities

I am the Programme Leader for the BSc (Hons) Criminology degree and teach on a variety of modules across both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Criminology, and other Social Sciences disciplines. I also supervise several MSc, MRes and PhD student research projects.