Asher Flynn

Dr Asher Flynn is an Associate Professor of Criminology, and Director of the Social and Political Sciences Graduate Research Program at Monash University.

Asher’s research utilises a socio-legal framework to understand, critique and transform legal policy and practice, with a particular focus on gendered and technology-facilitated violence. Informed by national and international context, her research examines experiences of accessing and negotiating justice. Asher has published widely on technology-facilitated violence and harassment, with a specific focus on image-based sexual abuse, as well as sexual and gender-based violence, plea negotiations and access to justice. 

Asher is currently Lead Chief Investigator on an Australian Criminology Research Council Grant, Preventing Image-Based Cybercrime in Australia: The Role of Bystanders(with Associate Professor Nicola Henry and Dr Adrian Scott), which is the first Australian study to gatherempirical data about Australians' understandings of image-based abuse, image-based abuse laws and therole of bystanders in responding to this growing social and legal problem. Informed by focus groups, surveys and stakeholder engagement, the project will generate new, policy-relevant knowledge that contributes to preventing image-based abuse.Asher is Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, Revenge Pornography: The Prevalence and Nature of Non-consensual Imagery and the Implications for Law Reform (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry, Associate Professor Anastasia Powell, Professor Clare McGlynn, Professor Erika Rackley and Professor Nicola Gavey). This is the first project to conduct a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of image-based sexual abuse across Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Asher is also Chief Investigator on a Monash University funded project, Overlooked or Just Ignored? Victims and Plea Negotiations(with Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg). The aim of this study is to address the absence in knowledge of victims’ perspectives of plea negotiation and potential reforms to the process, by eliciting, distilling and articulating victims’ views. In addition to providing world-first data on these issues from the perspectives of victims, this is the first time a methodology of this kind has been used in this type of study, further demonstrating the innovative contribution of this research in advancing knowledge.

Asher recently completed the Responding to Revenge Pornography: The Scope, Nature and Impact of Australian Criminal Lawsproject as Chief Investigator (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry and Associate Professor Anastasia Powell), funded by the Australian Criminology Research Council) and an Australian Criminology Research Council funded project, Negotiated Guilty Pleas: An Empirical Analysis as lead Chief Investigator with Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg. This project was the first empirical analysis of the plea negotiation process in Victorian courts using case file and interview data. You can read more about the project in her co-authored book, Negotiated Guilty Pleas: Pragmatic Justice in an Imperfect World (2018, Palgrave Macmillan).

In 2018, Asher was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Research Impact Award for her research on image-based abuse. This is the first time the award has ever been given to a researcher from the Faculty of Arts. Asher also received the Dean’s Award for Research Impact within the Faculty of Arts in 2018, and the 2018 Capstone Editing Award for Academic Women. In 2018, Asher was nominated for a Vice-Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, after winning the Faculty of Arts Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2017, for her sustained and innovative contributions to teaching and supporting students in Criminology, and for fostering a sense of ownership, independence and engagement in student learning. Asher also received a commendation from the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology in 2018 for teaching excellence.

Asher is the recipient of a number of prestigious national and international research fellowships including at the University of Durham (Visiting Fellow in Law, 2018), the University of Manchester (Research Fellow in Law 2013), the University of Warwick (Research Fellow in Law 2014-2017; Visiting Fellow in Criminal Justice 2013) and Mannix College (Research Fellow in Social Sciences 2014). 

In 2013, Asher was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology New Scholar Prize for the best early career academic paper written in a criminology-related area, and in 2014, she was awarded the Faculty of Arts Dean's Award for Excellence in Research by Early Career Researchers and an Emerging Research Fellowship in the Faculty of Arts (Monash University).

In 2017, Asher was elected to the executive committee of the leading Australian criminology network, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology as the Victorian State Representative.

Asher's current research projects include:

• Preventing Image-Based Cybercrime in Australia: The Role of Bystanders (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry and Dr Adrian Scott). This project is funded by the Criminology Research Council (CRG02/19-20)
• Overlooked or Just Ignored? Victims and Plea Negotiations (with Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg). This project is funded by Monash University.
• Revenge Pornography: The prevalence and nature of non-consensual imagery and the implications for law reform (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry, Associate Professor Anastasia Powell, Dr Adrian Scott, Professor Clare McGlynn, Professor Erika Rackley and Professor Nicola Gavey). This project is funded by the Australian Research Council (DP170101433) 
• Institute for Research on Image-Based Abuse (with Dr Sarah Whitney). This project is funded by a Monash University and Pennsylvania State University Research Grant.

Recently completed projects include:

• Responding to Revenge Pornography: The scope, nature and impact of Australian Criminal Laws (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry and Associate Professor Anastasia Powell). This project is funded by the Criminology Research Council (CRG08/15-16).
• Negotiated Guilty Pleas: An Empirical Analysis (with Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg). This project is funded by the Criminology Research Council (CRG 51/13-14)

Recent Research & Education Awards

• Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Impact (Social and Economic), Monash University (2018)
• Capstone Editing Award for Academic Women (2018)
• Faculty of Arts Deans Award for Research Impact, Monash University (2018)
• Commendation for Teaching Excellence, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (2018)
• Nomination for Vice-Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2018)
• Research Fellow in Law, University of Durham (UK) (2018)
• Faculty of Arts Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2017)
• Research Fellow in Law, Centre for Criminal Justice, School of Law, Warwick University (UK) (2014-2017)
• Lifetime Research Fellow in Social Sciences, Mannix College, Monash University (2014-ongoing)
• Faculty of Arts Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research by Early Career Researchers, Monash University (2014)
• Emerging Research Fellow, Faculty of Arts, Monash University (2014)
• Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology New Scholar Award (2013)
• Research Fellow in Arts, Mannix College, Monash University (2013)
• Research Fellow in Law, University of Manchester (UK) (2013)
• Visiting Fellow, Centre for Criminal Justice, University of Warwick (UK) (2013)

PhD & Masters by Research Supervision Areas

• Technology-facilitated abuse (including online harrassment)
• Image-based abuse ("revenge pornography")
• Digital crime
• Gendered violence
• Rape and sexual violence
• Access to Justice
• Plea Negotiations
• Legal Aid
• Victims' Rights
• Law Reform
• Prosecutorial discretion

Current Supervisions

Doctorate by Research: ‘Cognitive and Pyschological Factors present in Australian Violent Offenders’

Candidate: Laura Anderson

Supervisors: Professor Olaf Drummer (Main); Dr Jennifer Pilgrim (Associate) and Dr Asher Flynn (Associate)

Doctorate by research: '"Yes Means Yes": An Analysis of Legal Constructions of Consent in Victoria'

Candidate: Rachael Burgin

Supervisors: Dr Asher Flynn (Main) and Professor Jude McCulloch (Associate).

Doctorate by research: 'Rapes That Are Not Crimes: Feminist Debates, Average Guys and Why Novels Don’t Deal With Them'

Candidate: Giulia Mastrantoni

Supervisors: Dr Asher Flynn (main), Dr John Hawke (Associate) and Professor Sue Kossew (Associate)

Doctorate by research: 'Australian School Leaver and First-Year University Students' Understandings of Consent'.

Candidate: Katherine Schofield

Supervisors: Dr Asher Flynn (Main), Dr Faith Gordon (Associate) Dr James Roffee (Associate, External)

Doctorate by research: '"A man's home is his castle and mine is a cage": Pathways to remedy and access to justice for economic partner abuse in Victoria'.

Candidate: Madeleine Ulbrick

Supervisors: Dr Asher Flynn (Main) & Professor Jude McCulloch (Associate).

Completed Supervisions

Doctorate by Research: 'Justice Reinvestment: Reimagining Criminal Justice Policy' (2018)

Dr Kate Burns

Supervisors: Dr Asher Flynn (Main) and Dr Claire Spivakovsky (Associate).

Doctorate by Research: 'Accessing Victims' Rights within the Adversarial Process: The Viability of Legal Representation for Victims in the Prosecution Process' (2017)

Dr Mary Iliadis

Supervisors: Dr Asher Flynn (Main) and Professor Jude McCulloch (Associate).

Doctorate by research: 'An Examination of Post-release treatment programs and support services for released prisoners with Alcohol Use Disorders in Victoria' (2016)

Dr Christina Kirtley

Supervisors: Dr Asher Flynn (Main) and Professor Sharon Pickering (Associate).

Doctorate by research: 'Exploring Community Perceptions of Victoria Police: A Case Study of the Monash Local Government Area, Melbourne' (2017)

Dr Allegra Schermuly

Supervisors: Dr Helen Forbes-Mewett (Main) and Dr Asher Flynn (Associate).

@AsherFlynn

• Technology-facilitated abuse (including online harrassment)
• Image-based abuse ("revenge pornography")
• Digital crime
• Gendered violence
• Rape and sexual violence
• Access to Justice
• Legal Aid
• Victims' Rights
• Law Reform
• Plea negotiations
• Prosecutorial discretion

ATS2465/3465: Human Rights in the Criminal Justice Sphere - This intensively delivered unit is part of our Criminology in Prato program.

Asher’s research initiates and develops collaborations with expertise from industry and diverse disciplines, to deliver outcomes with relevance and impact. Her research involves in-depth consultation with those directly affected by, and those working within, the law, thus the findings translate into applied research that facilitates policy change and impact.

Asher contributes in advisory roles to a range of peak legal and government bodies in Australia, and her work is regularly cited in government reports and inquiries. Asher's research has also led to changes in law reform, including most recently, her work on image-based sexual abuse with Associate Professors Nicola Henry and Anastasia Powell, which shaped the introduction of the Crimes Amendment (Revenge Porn) Bill (ACT) and the Crimes Amendment (Intimate Images) Bill (NSW). Asher and Associate Professor Henry were invited to NSW Parliament by NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman to observe the reading of the bill and to attend and speak at a function at Parliament House in honour of those who had contributed to the development of this important legislative change. Asher has been invited to make submissions to numerous government enquiries and has presented evidence at various government committee hearings.

Asher also assisted the Victorian State Office of Public Prosecutions in implementing and developing policies for the Evidence Act 2009 (Vic) and Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (Vic), which constituted the largest legal reforms to the criminal justice system in 50 years. Her industry impact was recognised in a 2015 Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council report, Guilty Pleas in the Higher Courts: Rates, Timing and Discounts which acknowledged her work and expertise on plea negotiations.

Outside academia, Asher’s research informs public debate through an ongoing, sustained engagement with the media, across television; radio (including The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine; The Radio National Breakfast Show; The Law Report), newspapers, opinion pieces (The Age) and The Conversation.

Asher was elected the Victorian Representative on the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Executive Committee in 2017.