Dr Elizabeth Peatfield is a criminologist, author, and Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice at Liverpool John Moores University whose work tackles some of the most contested issues in British public life, including drug policy, free speech, and access to justice. Known for her direct, incisive writing, she focuses on how justice operates in practice, especially within England’s lower criminal courts and communities affected by criminalisation.
Her book Behind the Bench exposes the everyday realities of the lower courts – overstretched staff, pressured decisions, and defendants struggling to navigate an opaque system. DRUGS: Disorder by Design critiques the UK’s drug laws as products of political performance rather than evidence, highlighting how they generate inequality and unintended harms. In Free Speech in Contention, she examines the contradictions of contemporary speech debates and who actually feels able to speak in modern Britain.
Peatfield’s ongoing research explores legal aid pressures, barriers to fair representation, and the social dynamics shaping gang culture, grounded in long-term community relationships and a commitment to understanding lived experience.
Her journalism for North West Bylines translates this expertise for a wider audience, offering clear, accessible analysis of crime, policy, and inequality.