Sharon Hartles' has an interest in the crimes of the powerful elite and how crime and justice systems (locally and globally) are constructed to protect certain interests over others, whilst simultaneously exacerbating harms against already marginalised and vulnerable groups within society.

Her work focuses on challenging state-corporate crime, white-collar crime and spans a number of related areas such as the criminalisation of children, homelessness, drug usage (medical cannabis) and immigration.

Sharon is impassioned by criminology and social justice movements and this passion is reflected in her research. Her recent work has shone a light on the lack of truth, justice and accountability around (ongoing) harms resulting from the Grenfell ‘tragedy’, SNC-Lavalin ‘Affair’ and the Primodos ‘Scandal’.

In an explicit attempt to move beyond criminology, she draws upon techniques from across the disciplines including a zemiological approach and a health history lens to evidence the social, political and economic context (historical and geographical prevalence) in which harms, including those labelled as crimes, are produced and interwoven into society via socio-economic inequality. 

In doing so, Sharon's research endevours to provide a fresh approach to the challenges, problems and injustices faced by people in their day-to-day lives, whilst contributing and adding to the body of research within her interdisciplinary areas of study.