Dr Butler’s interests include criminological psychology, imprisonment, reducing reoffending and desistance, penal reform and social media crimes. Criminological psychology involves understanding why people engage in crime, how society reacts to and manages criminal behaviour and how individuals begin to leave behind a criminal career. She has been involved in a number of research projects examining prison violence, the needs of young people on remand, fear of crime, prison disciplinary and parenting programmes in prison, effects of parental imprisonment in Uganda, the experiences of vulnerable people in the criminal justice system and penal reform in Northern Ireland.