Our People

Ms Penelope Gibbs

Fellow, Visiting Fellow

Research Associate

Department of Criminology

BA (Oxon)

Penelope Gibbs worked in radio production at the BBC before being inspired to influence social change in the third sector. She set up the Voluntary Action Media Unit at TimeBank before joining the Prison Reform Trust to run Out of Trouble – a five year campaign to reduce child and youth imprisonment. In 2012 Penelope set up Transform Justice, a charity which advocates for a better justice system in England and Wales – a system which is fairer, more open, more humane and more effective. Transform Justice promotes change by generating research and evidence to show how the system works and how it could be improved.

Penelope has researched and written a number of publications for Transform Justice including: Justice denied? The experience of unrepresented defendants in the criminal courts; Magistrates: representatives of the people?; and Managing Magistrates’ Courts – Has central control reduced local accountability?

Penelope has also volunteered in the justice system – she sat as a magistrate for three years and is currently Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee for Youth Justice. Penelope Gibbs is a Research Associate with the Department of Criminology at the University of Oxford.