Profile

Bob Blanchard, Principal Lecturer and Course Leader for Criminology and Sociology

I obtained my first degree (in Sociology) from the University of Durham where I was a member of Saint Cuthbert’s Society. At this time Stan Cohen was teaching at Durham and like many students I developed an interest in the sociology of deviance from his advocacy of the newly emerging interactionist approach and more specifically from his empirical research into the 1960s mods and rockers troubles together with his research into control techniques in prisons.

After Durham I obtained a P.G.C.E. from Warwick in order to pursue a teaching career. At this time there were major developments taking place in Sociology and specifically in the field of deviance.  These developments involved neo-marxist, feminist, anti-racist and realist approaches.

I was lucky to be able to explore these developments through the teaching of some of the pioneers of some of these approaches, in particular Jock Young and Roger Matthews, on their newly established MA in Deviance and Social Policy at the then Middlesex Polytechnic.

My teaching career began in a Further Education College in Bedford where I taught sociology on GCE, Advanced level and trainee teacher courses. I think that this teaching provided me with the broad academic base and the teaching skills that are invaluable for teaching in higher education.

I have now been teaching in higher education for nearly two decades. In more recent years, as sociology’s general popularity has waned, I have taught more in the specific fields of the sociology of deviance and penology.

I am the Course Leader for the BA (Hons) in Criminology and Sociology at the Bedford Campus.

My teaching responsibilities on this course include a first year module introducing students to theories and issues in criminology, a second year module concerned with responses to crime and a third year module that is concerned with the historical development of juvenile justice legislation and practice.

In addition I supervise final year dissertations and act as personal tutor for some undergraduates.

I continue to enjoy my teaching and feel I make a reasonable job of it. Recently I received the Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award following nomination by some of my students.

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the field of penal policy and more specifically in the field of juvenile justice. Over the past seven years I have carried out quite extensive field research, on a consultancy basis, for a variety of public bodies including H.M. Courts’ Service Inspectorate, Bedfordshire Magistrates’ Courts Committee, the Youth Justice Board and Bedfordshire County Council.

Home Office funding has financed much of the research. Currently I am developing a proposal to examine the effectiveness of the recently established youth offending panels.

These research interests are reflected in the modules I teach.

Recent Publications

• Blanchard,R and Brown,P.(1998) A Balance of Convenience: an investigation into the attitudes and priorities of four Bedfordshire Magistrates’ Courts, Bedford: DeMontfort University.
• Blanchard,R and Manning,P. (2001) Crime and Nuisance Youth Behaviour: An Evaluation of Youth and Social Education Interventions in Bedfordshire, Bedford: DeMontfort University
• Blanchard,R and Brown.P. (2002) Bedfordshire Mentors and Peers: An evaluation of the establishment and operation of the scheme: April2000 to September 2001, Bedford: DeMontfort University
• Blanchard, R and Brown,P. (2002) Future Base: An evaluation of employment and training approach to youth crime prevention, Bedford: DeMontfort University

Contact details

E: bob.blanchard@beds.ac.uk
T: 01234 793187