Lesley McAra
{{Short description|Scottish legal scholar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Lesley McAra
| honorific_suffix = FRSE CBE
| education = University of Edinburgh
| known_for = Research in criminology, poverty and social justice
}}
Lesley McAra is Chair of Penology at the University of Edinburgh{{Cite web|title=Professor Lesley McAra {{!}} Edinburgh Law School|url=https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/people/professor-lesley-mcara|access-date=2021-07-30|website=www.law.ed.ac.uk}} She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh{{Cite web|date=2021-05-05|title=Professor Lesley McAra CBE FRSE|url=https://www.rse.org.uk/fellow/professor-lesley-mcara-cbe-frse/|access-date=2021-07-30|website=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|language=en-GB}} and was appointed a CBE in the New Year's Honours List 2018, for services to Criminology.
Career
McAra grew up in Hull as an expat Scot, and returned to Edinburgh to study at University.{{Cite web|title=Lesley McAra|url=https://www.ed.ac.uk/alumni/services/profiles/graduation/1980s/lesley-mcara|access-date=2021-07-30|website=The University of Edinburgh|language=en}} McAra's areas of academic research include the sociology of punishment, the sociology of law and deviance, youth crime, juvenile justice, gender justice and comparative criminal justice.{{Cite book|last=McAra|first=Lesley|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39863511|title=Parole board decision making|date=1998|publisher=Stationery Office|others=Great Britain. Scottish Office. Central Research Unit|isbn=0-11-495874-2|location=Edinburgh|oclc=39863511}}{{Cite book|last=McAra|first=Lesley|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56923547|title=Truancy, school exclusion and substance misuse|date=2004|publisher=University of Edinburgh, Centre for Law and Society|others=University of Edinburgh. Centre for Law and Society|isbn=0-905893-04-2|location=Edinburgh|oclc=56923547}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69593931|title=Perspectives on punishment : the contours of control|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Sarah Armstrong, Lesley McAra|isbn=0-19-927876-8|location=Oxford|oclc=69593931}}{{Cite web|title=Publications|url=https://www.edinstudy.law.ed.ac.uk/publications/|access-date=2021-07-30|website={{!}} Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime|language=en-GB}} She worked first at the Scottish Office doing research evaluating social work criminal justice services. She joined the University of Edinburgh as lecturer in criminology in 1995 and has been Dean of the School of Law, a member of the Centre for Law and [https://ials.sas.ac.uk/eagle-i/centre-law-and-society Society] and the Global Justice [https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/research/research-centres-and-networks/global-justice-academy Academy] and Director of the Edinburgh Futures [https://efi.ed.ac.uk/ Institute]. McAra is an associate at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR).{{Cite web|title=SCCJR Prof Lesley McAra|url=https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/about-us/people/lesley-mcara/|access-date=2021-07-30|website=SCCJR|language=en-US}} From 2019 to 2020, she served as President of the European Society of Criminology.{{cite web |title=The Executive Board of the European Society of Criminology |url=https://www.esc-eurocrim.org/index.php/the-esc/board |website=European Society of Criminology |access-date=24 May 2022}}
She is co-director (with Professor Susan McVie) of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime,{{Cite web|title=The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime|url=https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/project/the-edinburgh-study-of-youth-transitions-and-crime|access-date=2021-07-30|website=Nuffield Foundation|language=en-GB}} a research programme funded by the Nuffield Foundation tracking the lives of young people in Scotland. It is a major longitudinal study of a single cohort of around 4,000 people who started secondary school in Edinburgh in the autumn of 1998{{Cite journal|last1=McAra|first1=Lesley|last2=McVie|first2=Susan|date=May 2010|title=Youth crime and justice: Key messages from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1748895809360971|journal=Criminology & Criminal Justice|language=en|volume=10|issue=2|pages=179–209|doi=10.1177/1748895809360971|s2cid=143600871 |issn=1748-8958|hdl=20.500.11820/6baf67fb-481f-4822-82ce-0167de1ec65a|hdl-access=free}} The research highlighted how policing impacts on young people and that the structures of the criminal justice system in Scotland punish the poor, preventing them from escaping hardship.{{Cite news|date=2015-11-13|title=Scottish justice system 'punishes poorer people'|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-34802406|access-date=2021-07-30}}{{Cite web|title=Scotland's poorest 'most likely' to be victims of crime|url=https://www.scottishlegal.com/article/scotlands-poorest-most-likely-to-be-victims-of-crime|access-date=2021-07-30|website=Scottish Legal News|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2015-11-27|title=An uncomfortable truth- the strong link between poverty and crime|url=https://www.transformjustice.org.uk/an-uncomfortable-truth-the-strong-link-between-poverty-and-crime/|access-date=2021-07-30|website=Transform Justice|language=en-US}} The research project has continued to track changes over time.{{Cite web|last=satkins|date=2020-11-04|title=Data Comic: How Crime has Changed in Scotland|url=https://www.edinstudy.law.ed.ac.uk/2020/11/04/data-comic-how-crime-has-changed-in-scotland/|access-date=2021-07-30|website={{!}} Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime|language=en-GB}}
References
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Category:British legal scholars
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:British women legal scholars