Faculty members in the criminology discipline have established their reputation in a broad spectrum of criminology research, including crime prevention, triad studies, school and cyber bullying, restorative justice, juvenile and youth justice, socio-legal studies, crime control in the Greater China Region, green criminology, and violent and sexual offending. Faculty members have been active in securing competitive research grants, including RGC-General Research Fund and Public Policy Research Fund. They consistently receive research grants awarded by different bureaus/departments of the HKSAR government and local NGOs.  

With concerted effort, a group of criminology faculty joined hands to serve youth-at-risk and substantially impacts youth services reform and criminal justice policy changes in Hong Kong and nearby jurisdictions. In the recent RAE 2020 (2013-2019), the criminology faculty ‘s REF Impact Case Study titled ‘Better responses to Youth-at-Risk’ had been recognised as a first-tier impact case among all local institutions. The case study describes how research into welfare responses to street youth, and restorative approaches to school delinquents, has been brought together to aid the governments of Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Guangzhou in responding effectively to the needs of at-risk youths, in contrast to more traditional measures based on court interventions and institutionalised sanctions. Research into street youths explored the channels through which they were ‘Triadized’ and assimilated gang values. It identified modes of outreach work and community support that could channel the youths’ energies into more constructive goals, such as participating in volunteer services in the community, thus providing an alternative sense of belonging and achievement. Research into school delinquency, with the risk of dropping out, leading to life on the street, identified a strategy called ‘Restorative Whole School Approach’, based on tolerance and acceptance, combined with appropriate social disapproval of delinquency and mediation tactics. Trials, such as a two-year longitudinal study involving nearly 1200 high school students, found a significant reduction in bullying, increased empathy, and higher self-esteem in schools that applied the new approach compared with those that did not. These approaches were developed, adopted and applied over many years in Macau, Singapore, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Faculty members in the criminology discipline are active researchers and publish their research work in many top-tier referred journals in the field, such as the Journal of Criminal Justice; British Journal of Criminology; Trauma, Violence, and Abuse; Journal of Interpersonal Violence; Sexual Abuse; Aggression and Violent Behavior; Asian Journal of Criminology; Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology; International Journal of Criminology and Comparative Criminology; Trends in Organized Crime; Deviant Behavior; and Victims and Offenders. In addition to journal publications, faculty members also published (co)authored and (co)edited books in top commercial presses, such as Routledge, John Wiley & Sons, Palgrave Macmillan, and Springer Nature.

Over the years, criminology professors have made tremendous contribution to the development of criminal justice and offender rehabilitation policies in local and overseas communities including Hong Kong, and nearby jurisdictions within the Asia-Pacific region. Faculty members are now serving as either editor/associate editor or member of the editorial board of many prestigious international journals, such as the Journal of Criminal Justice, British Journal of Criminology, Sexual Abuse, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Frontiers in Psychiatry (Forensic Psychiatry specialty section), and Frontiers in Psychology (Forensic and Legal Psychology specialty section). Some faculty members have served or are serving in the Government committees such as committees related to ICAC, Central Fight Crime, Action Committee Against Narcotics, Offender’s Post-release Supervision, and Hong Kong Police College.