Richard Wortley

Articles by: Richard Wortley

Picture of child carrying teddy representing child abuse

Child sexual abuse during a lockdown

4th August 2020

Prof Richard Wortley, UCL Jill Dando Institute

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: In this article taken from a series by the UCL Jill Dando Institute focusing on crime during the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Richard Wortley assesses the potential impact of the coronavirus lockdown on child sexual abuse, and highlights prevention strategies.

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Richard Wortley
Professor
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Profile
Professor Richard Wortley joined University College London in August 2010 as Director of the Jill Dando Institute and the Head of the Department of Security and Crime Science. He has a bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree in psychology, and was a practicing psychologist in the New South Wales prison system for 10 years, working in maximum and minimal security prisons and male and female prisons. A former national chair of the Australian Psychological Society's College of Forensic Psychologists, he has been a university academic since 1985, working in psychology and criminology departments in Australia before coming to the UK. Richard’s research interests centre on the role that immediate environments play in behaviour, especially in criminal, corrupt, and antisocial acts. He has been involved in numerous funded projects in areas including violence in licensed premises, official misconduct in prison, whistleblowing in the public sector, child sexual abuse, the occupational health effects for investigators of internet child exploitation, Australian Aboriginal imprisonment, and intimate partner homicide. He has developed and taught courses in corrections, the psychology of crime, forensic psychology, and crime prevention; Richard currently teaches the module ‘Foundations of Security and Crime Science’.