Jennifer Fleetwood

Jennifer Fleetwood is a non-fiction writer and academic researcher based in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at City St George’s University of London.

Jennifer is fascinated by the relationship between stories and ‘crime’. In Drug Mules: Women in the International Cocaine Trade (Palgrave MacMillan 2014) she looked at how women talked themselves into working in the drug trade.

You can hear her speak about her research on drug mules on the podcast British Scandal (S47E2) here.

Jennifer’s most recent book is What We Talk About When We Talk About Crime (Notting Hill Editions, 2024). In this short, highly readable book, she turns her attention to seven well-known examples of people talking about ‘crime’ in public (including Shamima Begum, Mo Farah, Prince Andrew and Myra Hindley) asking us to revisit what we think personal stories about crime tell about, and what they might do.

You can hear her speak about What We Talk About When We Talk About Crime on BBC Radio 4 here.

Praise for Drug Mules: Women in the International Cocaine Trade:

“In this beautifully written, painstakingly analyzed, and highly readable book, Fleetwood manages to make us understand the mindset and behavior of drug mules while keeping them at an emotional distance … [She] has truly convinced us that women drug mules are a complex phenomenon that cannot be understood in simple binary terms, and this conclusion flows logically from her data. This masterfully delivered work, a cornerstone of what is being called narrative criminology, will be of great interest to gender scholars who are also interested in deviance and crime, as well as international research.” – Rosemary Barberet, Gender and Society

“Engaging, methodologically sound, theoretically driven, and just a plain ‘good read,’ Drug Mules promises to sit on our shelves as one of the most important works on the contemporary global drug trade, women and crime, and changing gender roles published in the last decade or more.” – Patricia A. Adler, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Praise for What We Talk About When We Talk About Crime

“genial and readable. . . I can’t help hoping that it isn’t too long before we get another book by Fleetwood. She’s a one to watch in our book.” www.bookmunch.wordpress.com

“The central argument is that personal testimony is hugely important in helping us understand crime, but that it always needs to be considered carefully. Jennifer Fleetwood lays this out clearly and effectively, with a very accessible writing style that persuades rather than bludgeons the reader. The book often feels like a conversation with a smart and informed friend, rather than an academic text. Recommended.” CriminOlly.