Rate My Professor Lynzi Armstrong

Lynzi Armstrong is an Associate Professor in the School of Social and Cultural Studies within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Holding a PhD in Criminology from Victoria University of Wellington, completed in 2011, she is a critical criminologist whose research centers on gender, sex work, stigma, and violence. Her work particularly explores the experiences of street-based sex workers in decriminalized environments, risk perceptions, client screening practices, police interactions, and the broader impacts of New Zealand's sex work decriminalization model enacted in 2003. Adopting a feminist sex worker rights perspective, Armstrong examines social harms, human needs fulfillment, and policy implications, contributing to international comparative studies on sex work laws in countries including Ireland and Scotland.

Armstrong's career at Victoria University of Wellington has seen her advance from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and now Associate Professor, where she teaches in the Criminology programme. In 2018, she was awarded one of the university's five Early Career Research Excellence Awards. Her scholarly output includes influential peer-reviewed articles such as 'From Law Enforcement to Protection? Interactions Between Sex Workers and Police in a Decriminalized Street-based Sex Industry' (British Journal of Criminology, 2017), 'Stigma, Decriminalisation, and Violence Against Street-Based Sex Workers: Changing the Narrative' (Sexualities, 2019), 'Screening Clients in a Decriminalised Street-Based Sex Industry: Insights into the Experiences of New Zealand Sex Workers' (Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 2014), and ''I Can Lead the Life That I Want to Lead': Social Harm, Human Needs and the Decriminalisation of Sex Work in Aotearoa/New Zealand' (2021). She edited the volume Sex Work and the New Zealand Model: Decriminalisation and Practices of the Trade (Policy Press, 2020). Through these contributions, Armstrong has shaped academic discourse on sex work policy, advocating for decriminalization and rights-based approaches, while engaging in public commentary on platforms like The Conversation and The Spinoff.