Professor Kathryn Hollingsworth (she/her)

School of Law

Professor of Law and Criminal Justice

Photo pf Kathryn Hollingsworth smiling
Profile picture of Photo pf Kathryn Hollingsworth smiling
k.l.hollingsworth@sheffield.ac.uk
EF00, Bartolome House

Full contact details

Professor Kathryn Hollingsworth
School of Law
EF00
Bartolome House
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
Profile

Kathryn joined the University of Sheffield as a Professor of Law and Criminal Justice in October 2024. Prior to that she was a Professor of Law at Newcastle University between 2010-2024 and before that she held academic posts at King's College London, Otago University in New Zealand, and Cardiff University. She has also been a visiting professor at Texas Tech University (USA), Melbourne University (Australia), Otago University (New Zealand) and the University of New South Wales (Australia).  

Kathryn's research focuses on childrens rights in the context of criminal justice, and she has a particular interest in children's access to justice in the courts, children's sentencing, and judicial communication. Her co-authored article published in the Modern Law Review with Helen Stalford ('This case is about you and your future': Towards Judgments for Children') was awarded the 2021 SLSA Article Prize and her work has been used to inform judicial guidance and training in England and Wales and overseas. In 2023 she was joint runner up for Newcastle University's impact award (policy and practice) for her work developing new guidance for judges sentencing children in the Crown Court. She was a trustee for Just for Kids Law from 2016-2019 and is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Youth Justice Legal Centre and chair and a director of the Children Rights and Youth Justice CIC.

Kathryn is also a co-convenor of a large multi-sectoral research centre, the Centre for People's Justice, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2025-2030): https://centreforpeoplesjustice.org/

Qualifications
  • BA (hons) Law, University of Sheffield (1995)
  • PhD, University of Cambridge (2008)
Research interests
  • Youth justice
  • Children's rights
  • Judging and children
  • Sentencing
Publications

Books

  • Stalford H, Hollingsworth K & Gilmore S (2020) Rewriting Childrens Rights Judgments From Academic Vision to New Practice. Hart Publishing.
  • White F & Hollingsworth K (1999) Audit, Accountability and Government. Oxford University Press.

Journal articles

  • Hollingsworth K (2025) . Social & Legal Studies, 34(4), 532-557.
  • Diesfeld K, Hollingsworth K, Hudson NC, Tang S & Nolan M (2024) . Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 31(3), 315-319.
  • Liaw Y-Q, Turkmendag I & Hollingsworth K (2021) . New Genetics and Society, 40(4), 406-424.
  • Hollingsworth K & Stalford H (2021) The thing that made me want to prove myself was the judge: A childrens rights approach to communicating sentences. Magistrate(February/March), 14-16.
  • Stalford H & Hollingsworth K (2020) . The Modern Law Review, 83(5), 1030-1058.
  • Hollingsworth K & Stalford H (2020) Brexit and children in conflict with the law: implications for sentencers. Magistrate, 8-9.
  • Hollingsworth K & Stalford H (2019) Brexit and children in conflict with the law: what YOT workers need to know. Association of YOT Managers Bulletin, November.
  • Hollingsworth K (2015) Judging Children's Rights and the Benefits Cap: R (SG and others) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 27(4), 445-466.
  • Hollingsworth K (2014) . Current Legal Problems, 67(1), 99-134.
  • Hollingsworth K (2013) . Legal Studies, 33(1), 22-45.
  • Hollingsworth K (2013) . The Modern Law Review, 76(6), 1046-1069.
  • Hollingsworth K (2012) . Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 34(2), 245-259.
  • Hollingsworth K (2008) . Youth Justice, 8(3), 229-244.
  • Hollingsworth K & Driscoll J (2008) Accommodating Children in Need: R (on the application of M) (FC) v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham 20 Child and Family Law Quarterly. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 20, 522-540.
  • Hollingsworth K (2007) . Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 29(2), 163-175.
  • Hollingsworth K (2007) The Rights of Children Leaving Custody: K v Parole Board and K v Manchester City Council. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 29, 163-175.
  • Hollingsworth K (2007) Judicial Approaches to Childrens Rights in Youth Crime. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 19, 1-1.
  • Hollingsworth K (2006) R (on the Application of W) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis; the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames interpreting child curfews: a question of rights?. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 16, 253-268.
  • Hollingsworth K (2004) Speaking Loudly and Carrying a Small Stick? The New Zealand Commissioner for Children. Otago law review, 10(4), 599-621.
  • Hollingsworth K & Douglas G (2002) . The Modern Law Review, 65(1), 58-78.
  • White F & Hollingsworth K (2001) Public Finance Reform: The Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. Public Law, 437-445.
  • Hollingsworth K (2000) . Legal Studies, 20(2), 241-263.
  • Hollingsworth K, White F & Harden I (1998) . Legal Studies, 18(1), 78-100.
  • Harden I, White F & Hollingsworth K (1996) Value for Money and Administrative Law. Public Law, 661-681.
  • Hollingsworth K () . International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 21(2), 190-219.

Book chapters

  • Hollingsworth K (2023) , Child First (pp. 203-233). Springer International Publishing
  • Stalford H & Hollingsworth K (2022) Future-Proofing Childrens Rights Protections for Child Foreign National Offenders: Blurring the Bright Lines In Scherpe J & Gilmore S (Ed.), Family Matters: Essays in Honour of John Eekelaar
  • Lambe S & Hollingsworth K (2021) Protecting Vulnerable Child Defendants in England and Wales: A House of Cards? In Lansdell G, Saunders B & Erikson A (Ed.), Neurodisability and the Criminal Justice System: Comparative and Therapeutic Responses Edward Elgar Publishing
  • Hollingsworth K (2021) Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System, PANDEMIC LEGALITIES (pp. 53-64).
  • Hollingsworth K (2017) Commentary on R v JTB, REWRITING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS JUDGMENTS: FROM ACADEMIC VISION TO NEW PRACTICE (pp. 421-427).
  • Stalford H, Hollingsworth K & Gilmore S (2017) European Committee of Social Rights Defence for Children International (DCI) v Belgium, REWRITING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS JUDGMENTS: FROM ACADEMIC VISION TO NEW PRACTICE (pp. 567-577).
  • Stalford H, Hollingsworth K & Gilmore S (2017) Introducing Children's Rights Judgments, REWRITING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS JUDGMENTS: FROM ACADEMIC VISION TO NEW PRACTICE (pp. 3-+).
  • Hollingsworth K & Arthur R (2017) House of Lords R v JTB, REWRITING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS JUDGMENTS: FROM ACADEMIC VISION TO NEW PRACTICE (pp. 428-437).
  • Stalford H & Hollingsworth K (2017) Judging Children's Rights: Tendencies, Tensions, Constraints and Opportunities, REWRITING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS JUDGMENTS: FROM ACADEMIC VISION TO NEW PRACTICE (pp. 17-51).
  • Hollingsworth K (2017) The utility and futility of international standards for children in conflict with the law The case of England, ROUTLEDGE INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF CRIMINOLOGY AND HUMAN RIGHTS (pp. 190-199).
  • Hollingsworth K & Stalford H (2017) Towards Children's Rights Judgments, REWRITING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS JUDGMENTS: FROM ACADEMIC VISION TO NEW PRACTICE (pp. 53-85).

Reports

  • Hollingsworth K, Bild J & Dingwall G (2024) Childrens Knowledge and Opinion of Sentencing

Preprints

  • Hollingsworth K () .
  • Hollingsworth K () .
Research group

Centre for Criminological Research

Children and the Law

Teaching interests
  • Children's rights
  • Criminal Law
  • Criminal Justice
Teaching activities
  • Children and the Law
  • Contemporary Issues in Law and Justice
  • Advanced Criminal Law
Professional activities and memberships
  • Member of the Socio-legal Studies Association
  • Member of the British Society of Criminology
  • Member of the Society of Legal Scholars

Recognition

  • Advisory Board of the Youth Justice Legal Centre
  • Chair and Director of the Children's Rights and Youth Justice CIC
  • 2021 SLSA Article Prize (winner)