ACU Researcher

Dr Matthew Morgan

Lecturer of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Thomas More Law School

Areas of expertise: policing; policing vulnerability; youth justice; procedural justice;

Email: Matthew.Morgan@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU Brisbane Campus

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: HDR Supervisor (Provisional)

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9437-7519

ORCID link: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9437-7519

Matthew Morgan is a Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice in the Thomas More Law School at the Australian Catholic University (ACU). Matthew's teaching and research interests include policing vulnerable and diverse populations with a particular focus on how police interact with people with mental illness. He has worked with police organisations in the UK and in Australia to inform best practice for when police interact with people suffering mental health crises in the community. Matthew's work is critical and interdisciplinary and draws upon criminological theory as well as human rights law and principles to understand how marginalised individuals interact with the criminal justice system. He holds a PhD in Justice from the Queensland University of Technology, a Masters in Applied Human Rights from Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), and First-Class Honours in BSc Criminology and Psychology from SHU. Matthew is also a mental health awareness advocate who routinely engages with mainstream media outlets to help inform public policy and debate regarding complex mental illnesses affecting youth and the general population.

Website

Google Scholar

Select publications

Journal Articles

Morgan, M., Dodd, S. (In Press). Joyriding Among Young First Nations Australians: Assessing Police Trust and Confidence through the Lens of Youth and Key Stakeholders. Youth Justice.

Morgan, M. (2024). 'The response hasn't been a human-to-human response, but a system to human response': Health care perspectives of police responses to persons with mental illness in crisis. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. DOI: 10.1007/s11896-024-09649-y

Dodd, S., & Morgan, M., (2023). "They are kids, they're making bad choices, but they are not bad kids": Motivations and Deterrents for Joyriding amongst Australian Youth. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth. 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2023.2282725

Morgan, M. M., & Higginson, A. (2023). Police and procedural justice: perceptions of young people with mental illness. Policing & Society, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2023.2207714

Morgan, M. (2022). Contradictions Between Community-Oriented Police Training and Paramilitary Police Training: Implications for Police Recruit Mental Health Response Training. The Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 37(4), 876-891. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-022-09537-3

Miles-Johnson, T & Morgan, M. (2022). Operational Response: Policing Persons with Mental Illness in Australia. Journal of Criminology, 55(2), 260-281. https://doi.org/10.1177/26338076221094385

Morgan, M & Miles-Johnson, T. (2022). Responding to Persons with Mental Illness (PWMI): Police Recruit Perceptions of Mental Health Response Training and Engagement. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1), 1-16, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2021.2020469

Morgan, M. (2021). Police Responses to Persons with Mental Illness: The Policy and Procedures Manual of one Australian Police Agency and 'Procedural Justice Policy'. Social Sciences, 10(42), https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10020042

Morgan, M & Paterson, C. (2017).'It's mental health, not mental police': A Human Rights Approach to Mental Health Triage and Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 13(2), 123-133. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pax047

Technical Reports

Dodd, S., Morgan, M., Dillon, A., Lawton, L., & Harfield, C. (2023). Deterring Drivers: An initiative to reduce car theft and joyriding by young people in Townsville. Evaluation report to the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs. Australian Catholic University.

Higginson, A., & Morgan, M. (2020). Australian Youth Safety Survey: 2020 Technical Report. QUT Centre for Justice, Queensland University of Technology: Brisbane. ISSN 2652-3809

Conference Papers

Morgan, M.Police and Procedural Justice: Perceptions of Young People with Mental Illness - findings from the Australian Youth Safety Survey. ANZSOC, Darwin, 2022.

Miles-Johnson, T & Morgan, M.Operational Response: Policing Persons with Mental Illness in Australia. Paper accepted by the American Society of Criminology 2022.

Morgan, M. An examination of police academy mental health response training'. Paper accepted by the American Society of Criminology. November 2020. (Conference cancelled due to Covid-19).

Morgan, M. 'Participant observations of police academy mental health response training'. Paper accepted by the British Society of Criminology. July 2020. (Conference cancelled due to Covid-19).

Morgan, M.'An exploration of police responses to persons with mental illness'. British Society of Criminology, University of Lincoln, UK. July 2019.

Morgan, M. 'Policing Vulnerability: An examination of police responses to persons with mental illness in the community'. Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, Queensland University of Technology. July 2019.

Projects

Co-Chief Investigator (with Dr Shannon Dodd, Dr Matthew Morgan Associate Professors Clive Harfield and Luke Lawton, Dr Anthony Dillon):Deterring Drivers: An initiative to reduce car theft and joyriding by young people in Townsville, 2023-2024(AUD $81,716.80). Funded by the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs.

Chief investigator: Evaluation of First Responder De-escalation and Communication Training for Crisis Situations, 2023-2024 (AUD $10,000). Funded by Faculty of Business and Law, ACU.

Awards

Outstanding Policing Research - Paper Award. The Policing Thematic Group, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology, 2023.

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (AFHEA). Awarded December 2020.

Australian Government Research Training Program (RPT) Stipend (International). Approx. $81,000 over three years, 2018-2021

Student of the Year. Awarded for the student with the highest overall GPA on the course, Sheffield Hallam University, 2014.

Appointments and Affiliations

Course Coordinator, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Brisbane, ACU.

Faculty of Business and Law ECR Representative, Faculty of Business and Law Research Committee, ACU

Member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology

Public engagement

ABC PM Show, 23 May 2023. NSW police need better training for mentally unwell. By Katherine Gregory https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/nsw-police-need-better-training-for-mentally-unwell-/102383762

Courier Mail, Cairns Post, Mercury, Radio 4CA, Channel 10 Cairns, Channel 10 Townsville; 18 August 2023. Matthew Morgan: Car-related apprenticeship proposed as fix for teen car crims. By Luke Williams. https://archive.md/ae9zo

Courier Mail, Radio 4BC. 26 Aug 2023 (print only). Crime pays for unis.

Courier Mail. 4 Sept 2023. Shocking youth crime reoffending statistics at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre revealed. By Luke Williams. https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/cairns/exclusive-shockingly-high-reoffending-rates-at-cleveland-youth-detention-centre-exposed/news-story/720d1720d3995b16131c27511ee3b906?btr=bc1dd997bc4b6e16db7d0e122633ec1f

Channel 7 News, 4pm and 6pm. Deterring Drivers Program. By Rachael Baxter, 15^th September, 2023.

666 ABC Canberra. Deterring Drivers Program. By Sally Sara. 15^th September 2023.

Channel 10 Townsville. Jobs not Jail. 21^st September 2023.

Channel 7 News Melbourne. Youth offending and bail laws. By Kathleen O'Connor. 20^th January 2024.

Channel 10 News. Youth Crime and reoffending. By Abby Dinham. 20^th January 2024.

ABC Radio Canberra, Afternoon Program. Issues behind police being the first responders to mental health crises. By Alice Matthews. 23^rd January 2024.