Rate My Professor Caitlin Davey

Dr Caitlin Davey, a proud Biripi woman and First Nations Scholar, serves as Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University. She completed her PhD in Criminology at the University of New England, focusing on public attitudes towards crime and punishment, and holds a Bachelor of Criminology from the same institution. Her academic background is enriched by professional experience in custodial and community corrections settings, shaping her advocacy for First Nations justice issues.

Davey's research specializations encompass public perceptions of crime and punishment, punitive attitudes and their predictors including geographic location, fear of crime, confidence in the criminal justice system, and racial factors. She has examined the rural-urban divide in Australian punitiveness, revealing higher punitive views among rural residents moderated by fear and system distrust. Additional interests include First Nations parole decisions, youth justice, poly-victimisation in female offending, and equitable research remuneration for incarcerated participants. As Associate Researcher at the University of New England's Centre for Rural Criminology, she contributes to rural criminology. Key publications feature 'Punitive attitudes in Australia: Investigating the rural-urban divide' (Journal of Rural Studies, 2025, co-authored with Kyle J.D. Mulrooney and Susan E. Watt), 'Exploring individual-level predictors of punitive attitudes in Australia' (2024, co-authored with Kyle J.D. Mulrooney and Susan E. Watt), and 'Towards Equitable and Uniform Research Remuneration for Incarcerated Participants' (International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 2026, co-authored with Shannon Dodd et al.). She received a New Criminology Research Grant from the Australian Institute of Criminology for poly-victimisation and mental health research across female offending trajectories. Davey convenes the course First Nations and Justice (3031CCJ), supervises doctoral students on prison mental health topics, and engages publicly on youth crime policies and Indigenous family violence responses, impacting criminology discourse.