Diana Johns is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Political Sciences. Her (mainly qualitative) research interests include post-prison (re)integration, restorative and therapeutic justice, young people's involvement with the justice system, and African Australians’ experiences of media representation, criminalisation, exclusion and inclusion.
Diana completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne, exploring men's experience of prison release from the perspective of ex-prisoners and post-release support workers, and highlighting the critical role of community in providing opportunities for participation and acceptance to help facilitate post-prison (re)integration. In 2015 Diana undertook postdoctoral research for the Welsh Centre of Crime and Social Justice and the Youth Justice Board (YJB Cymru) in Wales, UK, where she focused on young people's 'prolific' offending, examining the trajectories of young people involved in high-volume, frequent and persistent offending. Recent projects on which she has been co-investigator include: the Youth Diversion Pilot Program evaluation for the Children's Court of Victoria, with Professor Stuart Thomas and Dr Marg Liddell at RMIT; research for Corrections Victoria relating to serious sexual and violent offending; a study of the effects of demonising media narratives on South Sudanese young people since Moomba 2016, with colleagues at Monash University and the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY). Her current research is focused on: African-Australians' community support and (re)integration needs; restorative responses to adolescent family violence; the use of apps in criminal justice; and therapeutic approaches in youth justice custodial settings. She founded and co-convenes, with Dr Sophie Rudolph (MGSE), the Justice-Involved Young People (JYP) Network (https://jypnet.network/).Diana’s first book, Being and Becoming an Ex-Prisoner, based on her PhD research, was published in 2018 by Routledge (part of the International Series on Desistance and Rehabilitation). She is currently involved in collaborative writing projects that include two new books, #Africangangs: The Construction of a Law and Order Crisis (Leanne Weber et al., Emerald) and Coproducing Criminal Justice Knowledge (Johns et al., Routledge), both due to be published in 2021.
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Honours, Awards and Fellowships
PhD scholarship as part of an ARC Discovery grant for the Australian Prisons Project (based at UniMelb and UNSW)
$2000 prize for Excellence in Research granted by the College of Design and Social Context
Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) for Masters research
Credentials
Positions
Senior Lecturer In Criminology
Social And Political Sciences
Regular Membership
Internatinal Society for Therapeutic Jurisprudence
Member
Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice, UK
Member
Australia and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC)
Volunteer Independent Third Person (Itp)
Office of the Public Advocate
Education
PhD Criminology
University of Melbourne
MA Applied Criminology
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
BA Criminal Justice Administration
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology