• PhD (Leicester), ‘Juvenile sex offending: An investigative perspective’.
• M.Sc. Forensic Psychology (Kent)
• B.Sc. (Hons) Psychology (Southampton)

Jessica began her career in forensic psychology as a crime analyst for the London Metropolitan Police where she specialised in the analysis of stranger sex offences and homicides. Following this, she took up the post of Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at the University of Leicester where she worked for approximately six years and was the Course Leader of two distance-learning Masters courses in forensic psychology. Whilst working full-time she studied for her PhD part-time. The focus of her PhD reflected her previous employment as a crime analyst and investigated whether rape series committed by juvenile sex offenders could be accurately identified using similarity in modus operandi. In 2008 she moved to the University of Gloucestershire and took up the post of Principal Lecturer in Forensic Psychology. There she designed and set up two new courses in forensic psychology. In 2010, she joined the Centre for Forensic and Criminological Psychology at the University of Birmingham.

Since commencing her career in academia in 2002, Jessica has continued to stay involved in case work and consultancy. She has been consulted on high profile cases for the London Metropolitan Police and the Scottish Crown Office. She has conducted operational research for several police forces and agencies, including Northamptonshire Police, Greater Manchester Police, the London Metropolitan Police, the National Policing Improvement Agency and the South African Police Service, and for the Youth Offending Service. In recognition of her early career achievement, Jessica received an award from the European Association of Psychology and Law in 2010.

Jessica is the Course Director of the MSc/PGDip in Clinical Criminology. She supervises six PhD students and is the academic tutor for several postgraduate students registered on the suite of forensic psychology postgraduate courses. She also supervises the research of two undergraduate psychology students per year. She lectures on several forensic psychology postgraduate modules as well as contributing to the undergraduate modules in forensic psychology.

Investigative Psychology
Assisting police decision-making, including case linkage (behavioural linking of crimes), offender prioritisation and investigative risk assessment, offender profiling, and identifying false allegations.

Sexual and Serial Offending
Sexual offending (particularly offences committed by strangers, juveniles and groups), modus operandi behaviour, victim coping strategies, serial offending (including robbery, burglary and sexual offences).

Journal Articles

Tonkin, M., Woodhams, J., Bull, R., Bond, J. & Santtila, P. (in press). A comparison of logistic regression and classification tree analysis for behavioural case linkage. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling.

Woodhams, J. & Labuschagne, G.N. (in press). South African serial rapists: The offenders, their victims and their offences.  Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment.

Harkins, L., Flak, V., Beech, A.R., & Woodhams, J. (in press). Evaluation of a community-based sex offender treatment program using a Good Lives model approach. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment.

Woodhams, J., Hollin, C.R., Bull, R. & Cooke, C. (in press). Behavior displayed by female victims during rapes committed by lone and multiple perpetrators. Psychology, Public Policy and Law.

Tonkin, M., Woodhams, J., Bull, R., Bond, J.W. & Palmer, E.J. (in press). Linking different types of crimes using geographical and temporal proximity. Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Woodhams, J., Cooke, C., Harkins, L. & da Silva, T. (2012). Leadership in multiple perpetrator stranger rape. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27, 728-752.

Woodhams, J., & Labuschagne, G. (2011). A test of case linkage principles with solved and unsolved serial rapes. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology [Available on-line].

Charron, A., & Woodhams, J. (2010). A qualitative analysis of mock jurors' deliberations of linkage analysis evidence. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 7, 165-183.

Gunby, C., & Woodhams, J. (2010). Sexually deviant juveniles: Comparisons between the offence and offender characteristics of ‘child abusers’ and ‘peer abusers’. Psychology, Crime and Law, 16, 47-64.

Markson, L., Woodhams, J. & Bond, J. (2010). Linking serial residential burglary: Comparing the utility of modus operandi behaviours, geographical proximity and temporal proximity. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 7, 91-107.

Nelson, A., Woodhams, J. & Hatcher, R. (2010). Female prisoners’ understanding of ‘bullying’ and their methods of coping: A multinational perspective. Psychology, Crime and Law, 16, 649-670.

Tonkin, M., Woodhams, J., Bond, J.W., & Loe, T. (2010). A three-tiered test of geographical profiling with serial auto-vehicle theft. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 28, 442-460.

Tonkin, M., Bond, J.W., & Woodhams, J. (2009). Fashion conscious burglars: Testing the principles of offender profiling with footwear impressions recovered at domestic burglaries. Psychology, Crime and Law, 15, 327-345.

Woodhams, J., Hollin, C.R., & Bull, R. (2008). Incorporating context in linking crimes: An exploratory study of the relationship between behavioural consistency and situational similarity. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 5, 1-23.

Grennan, S., & Woodhams, J. (2007). The impact of bullying and coping strategies on the psychological health of young offenders. Psychology, Crime and Law, 13, 487-504.

Woodhams, J., Grant, T., & Price, A. (2007). From marine ecology to crime analysis: Improving the detection of serial sexual offences using a taxonomic similarity measure. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 4, 17-27.

Woodhams, J., Gillett, R., & Grant, T. (2007). Understanding the factors that affect the severity of juvenile stranger sex offences: The effect of victim characteristics and number of suspects. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22, 218-237

Woodhams, J., Hollin, C.R., & Bull, R. (2007). The psychology of linking crimes: A review of the evidence. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 12, 233-249.

Woodhams, J., & Toye, K. (2007). An empirical test of the assumptions of case linkage and offender profiling with serial commercial robberies. Psychology, Public Policy & Law, 13, 59-85.

Woodhams, J. & Grant, T. (2006). Developing a categorization system for rapists’ speech. Psychology, Crime and Law, 22, 245-260.

Gendle, K. & Woodhams, J. (2005). Suspects who have a learning disability: Police perceptions toward the client group and their knowledge about learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 9, 70-81

Woodhams, J. (2004). Characteristics of juvenile sex offending against strangers: Findings from a non-clinical study. Aggressive Behavior, 30, 243-253.

Books and Chapters

Woodhams, J. (in press).  Offender profiling and crime linkage.  In G. Davies & A. Beech (Eds.), Forensic psychology. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Woodhams, J., Hollin, C. R., & Bull, R. (2008). Serial juvenile sex offenders and their offenses. In R. N. Kocsis (Ed.), Serial murder and the psychology of violent crime (pp. 34-50). Totowa, N.J.: The Humana Press Inc.

Grant, T.D. & Woodhams, J. (2007). Rape as social interaction: An application of investigative linguistics. In J. Cotterill (Ed.). The language of sex crimes (pp. 1-16). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.

Woodhams, J., Bull, R., & Hollin, C. R. (2007). Case linkage: Identifying crimes committed by the same offender. In R. N. Kocsis (Ed.), Criminal profiling: International theory, research and practice (pp. 117-133). Totowa, N.J.: The Humana Press Inc.

Bull, R., Cooke, C., Hatcher, R., Woodhams, J., Bilby, C., & Grant, T., (2006). Criminal psychology: A beginners’ guide. London: One World.