Catherine Appleton is a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of Law at Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences. She is also Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Mental Health, NTNU and the Centre of Research and Education in Security, Prisons and Forensic Psychiatry at St Olavs University Hospital, Noway, and Research Associate at the School of Law, University of Nottingham, UK. Her research focuses on 'ultimate penalties' and the question of how societies respond to their most serious crimes. Her book, Life Imprisonment (2019), co-authored with Emeritus Professor Dirk van Zyl Smit, was awarded the 2020 outstanding book awards from both the European Society of Criminology and the Division of International Criminology of the American Society of Criminology. She has acted as expert advisor for Amnesty International, the Council of Europe, the Helsinki Committee for Armenia, The Norwegian Mission for the Rule of Law in Moldova, and the United Nations. She is an Executive Board member of Penal Reform International and is Co-Director of prisonHEALTH.
Publications
Books
Van Zyl Smit, D., Appleton, C. and VuCong, G. (2023) Life Imprisonment in Asia. Shanghai: Palgrave Macmillan.
Van Zyl Smit, D. and Appleton, C. (2019) Life Imprisonment: A Global Human Rights Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (currently being translated into Spanish). Awarded the 2020 Outstanding Book Award 2020 of the Division of International Criminology of the American Society of Criminology and the 2020 European Society of Criminology Book Award.
Van Zyl Smit, D. and Appleton, C. (eds.) (2016) Life Imprisonment and Human Rights. Oxford: Hart/Bloomsbury.
Appleton, C. (2010) Life after Life Imprisonment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Awarded the 2011 British Society of Criminology Book Prize.
Burnett, R. and Appleton, C. (2004) Tackling Youth Crime In Partnership. Oxford: Russell House Publishing.
Book chapters
Van Zyl Smit, D. and Appleton, C. (2023) ‘Asian Life Imprisonment in Worldwide Perspective’ in D. van Zyl Smit, C. Appleton and G. VuCong (eds.) Life Imprisonment in Asia. Shanghai: Palgrave Macmillan.
Appleton, C. and van Zyl Smit, D. (2016) ‘The Paradox of Reform: Life Imprisonment in England and Wales’, in D. van Zyl Smit and C. Appleton (eds). Life Imprisonment and Human Rights. Oxford: Hart/Bloomsbury.
Van Zyl Smit, D., Appleton, C. and Benford, G. (2016) ‘Introduction’, in D. van Zyl Smit and C. Appleton (eds). Life Imprisonment and Human Rights. Oxford: Hart/Bloomsbury.
Appleton, C. (2015) ‘Lone Wolf Terrorism in Norway’, in C. Walker (ed.) Contingencies, Resilience and Legal Constitutionalism. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Appleton, C. and Walker, C. (2015) ‘The Penology of Terrorism’, in G. Lennon and C. Walker (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Law and Terrorism. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Journal articles
Appleton, C. and Gilman, H. (2022) ‘When life means death: Some reflections on whole life orders’, Prison Service Journal, July 2022: 261: 4-8.
Van Zyl Smit, D. and Appleton, C. (2018) ‘Life Imprisonment: The Modern Ultimate Penalty?’ New Philosopher, February-April 2018: 88-93.
Appleton, C. (2015) ‘Life without Parole’, Oxford Handbooks Online, Oxford University Press.
Appleton, C. (2014) ‘Lone wolf terrorism in Norway’, Special Issue on ‘Legal Perspectives on Contingencies and Resilience in an Environment of Constitutionalism’, International Journal of Human Rights, 18(2): 127-142.
Appleton, C. and Grøver, B. (2007) ‘The pros and cons of life without parole’, British Journal of Criminology, 47(4): 597-615.