Dr Shuai Wei

International Criminology

Criminological Perspectives in Global and Post-colonial Contexts 

I am a Lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Southampton, which I joined in October 2025. My research explores the intersections of gender, law, and social justice through an international and comparative perspective, with a particular focus on China. Bringing together feminist criminology, socio-legal studies, and the sociology of sexuality, I examine how legal institutions and social practices shape experiences of inequality.

My work encompasses gender and judicial decision-making, sentencing, cross-border bride trafficking, organised crime, and LGBTQ+ rights and victimisation. I have investigated the relationship between judges’ gender and sentencing, the role of mediation in criminal justice, and the processes through which women are trafficked across borders into China. My recent collaborative research examines lesbian advocacy and the ways judicial discourse reproduces heteronormative assumptions in cases involving LGBTQ+ victims. I also study gender representation in digital media and methodological questions surrounding criminological fieldwork in China.

I hold a PhD in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies from the University of Cambridge. Before joining Southampton, I held lectureships at the Universities of Liverpool and Hong Kong and was a Grotius Research Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School.

My research has appeared in journals including The British Journal of Criminology, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Feminist Criminology, and Sexuality Research and Social Policy. Alongside my research and teaching, I am a Non-Resident Fellow at the Centre for Criminology, University of Hong Kong, and a Fellow of Advance HE. I serve as Co-Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the American Society of Criminology's Division of Feminist Criminology and have contributed as an expert consultant to Great Britain-China Centre projects on criminal justice reform and ending gender-based violence.