Lecturer in Forensic Psychology
I am a Chartered Psychologist, a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology and a Full Associate of the International Association of Investigative Psychology.
Upon completion of my undergraduate degree in 2003, I enrolled on a Masters programme and volunteered with prisoners to assist them to identify and overcome obstacles to their resettlement in the community. My MSc dissertation compared the developmental and behavioural experiences of sexual homicide offenders and sex offenders who had not killed their victims. This led to an ESRC-funded PhD examining moral disengagement as a facilitator of offending behaviour in adolescent and adult offenders.
I joined the National Policing Improvement Agency in 2008 as a Crime Analyst in the Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS; based at Bramshill Police College). I conductedcomparative analysis of serious sexual offences in order to identify potentially linked crimes and potential offenders and to provide advice to investigating officers. In 2010 I joined SCAS’ sister unit, the UK Missing Persons Bureau, as Policy and Research Officer. This involved liaising with police and other law enforcement agencies, NGOs and the Home Office. I left the NPIA in January 2012 to join the Psychology Department at Bedfordshire.
Other References
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) in Psychology – University of Wales Swansea
- MSc in Forensic Psychology – University of Kent at Canterbury
- PhD in Forensic Psychology – University of Portsmouth
- University Certificate in Forensic Risk Assessment for Practitioners – University of Central Lancashire
Teaching Role
- BSc Foundations to Psychology tutorials (Year 1)
- BSc Forensic Psychology in Practice (Year 3)
- MSc Forensic Psychology
Research Interests
- Sexual offending and sexual homicide
- Offender profiling and crime analysis
- Moral disengagement
- Missing persons
Recent Research Projects
- Moral disengagement in police-suspect interviews – Maladaptive cognitions or rapport builder?
- The moral, the social and the criminal: Understanding adolescent offending behaviour.
- What is the role of moral disengagement in the criminal career of serious offenders?
Recent Conference Presentations
- Alys, L., & Wilson, J.C. (2006, June). The role of moral disengagement in the offending behaviour of youths. Paper presented at the Division of Forensic Psychology Annual Conference, University of Central Lancashire.
- Rouse, M. & Alys, L. (2010, November). Numbers and costs of going missing. Paper presented at the Joint Annual Missing Persons Conference: Collaborative approaches to sharing knowledge, reducing costs and bureaucracy
- Wilson, J.C., Alys, L., Clarke, J., & Toman, P. (2004, October). A comparison of developmental and behavioural factors between sexual homicide offenders, sex offenders and controls. Paper presented at the 8th International Conference of the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO), Athens.
- Wilson, J.C., Alys, L., Clarke, J., & Toman, P. (2004, July). A comparison of developmental and behavioural factors between sexual homicide offenders, sex offenders and controls. Paper presented at the 14th European Conference on Psychology and Law, Kraków.
- Wilson, J.C., Alys, L., Clarke, J., & Toman, P. (2004, March). A comparison of developmental and behavioural factors between sexual homicide offenders, sex offenders and controls. Poster presented at the Division of Forensic Psychology 13th Annual Conference, University of Leicester.
Recent Publications
- Alys, L., Wilson, J.C., Clarke, J., & Toman, P. (2009). Developmental animal cruelty and its correlates in sexual homicide offenders and sex offenders. In A. Linzey (Ed.), The link between animal abuse and human violence (pp. 145-162). Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press.
- Alys, L., Wilson, J.C., Clarke, J., & Toman, P. (2004). A comparison of the presence of the 'ego triad' between sexual homicide offenders, sex offenders and control. In A. Czerederecka, T. Jaśkiewicz-Obydzińska, R. Roesch & J. Wójcikiewicz (Eds.), Forensic psychology and law: Facing the challenges of a changing world (pp. 3-13). Kraków: Institute of Forensic Research Publishers.
Contact Details
Dr Llian Alys
Department of Psychology
University of Bedfordshire
Park Square
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU1 3JU
T: +44 (0)1582 489172
E: llian.alys@beds.ac.uk
