Seminar with Nigel Lee, Southampton Solent University

This presentation is focussed on a research project to identify causal factors in cases of child homicide in Cambodia from 2013 to 2024. The data used is from the centralised investigative database of the country’s Child Protection Unit which is a unique source within Cambodian record keeping when various agencies and government departments are involved due to variations in record keeping processes implemented in each province and written in Khmer. The CPU database, and officers’ investigative notebooks and journals, were reviewed and all circumstances of recorded murders analysed to develop coding and themes related to relationships, locations and causal factors. Causal factors were assessed using thematic analysis involving some pre-determined themes and also inductive analysis to develop others.

A unique Cambodian behaviour know as ‘Karsangsoek’ was identified as the leading cause of homicide with influences of another embedded Cambodian Buddhist teaching known as “Chbab Srey” involving the three “fires” a woman must control in a family setting also potentially having influence in some circumstances. This talk will not only look at the results and discuss the potential reasons but also explore the need for researchers in the western world to ensure an understanding of relevant cultures and social/political influences when conducting research in the Global South.

About the speaker:

Nigel Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Solent University having retired from the UK police in 2017 as a Detective Sergeant with 25 years of service. He spent the last 15 years of his service investigating the sexual and physical abuse of children with his last 4 years’ service on a specialist team managing the risks posed to the public by violent and sexual offenders released from prison into the community, in particular child abusers. During that time, he also academically studied, and conducted research on, child abuse offender behaviours and psychology with UK police officers and convicted child abuse offenders within a UK prison establishment. Nigel is also trained and accredited to the highest level available in the UK for suspect and victim interviewing and between 2010 and 2014 was also a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers sub-group for ‘Child Protection Effective Practice and Training’ for England and Wales. Nigel regularly delivers training sessions to various UK police forces on the interviewing of child abuse offenders. Since its development in 2013 he has worked closely with Cambodia’s Child Protection Unit and the Cambodian National Police, writing and delivering specialist training to enhance their capacity for child abuse and child human trafficking investigations. In June 2019 he was awarded the highest chivalric honour that can be bestowed on a foreign national by the King and Government of Cambodia, the Royal Order of Sahametrei, which is awarded for “distinguished services to the King and to the people of Cambodia”.