David has over 25 years' of experience of conducting and analyzing in-depth interview research with offenders, and has written extensively on the subjects of domestic abuse, masculinities and crime, racial harassment, offender motivation and desistance from crime. His current research interests include human trafficking and the Aftermath of Violence. Much of David's research is characterized by a distinctly psychosocial approach to criminological problems. His first book (co-written with Tony Jefferson) Psychosocial Criminology was published by SAGE in 2007. His second book (co-written with Bill Dixon) Losing the Race - about racial harassment perpetrators and how to respond to them - was published by Karnac in 2011. His third book is called Young Men and Domestic Abuse and was published by Taylor and Francis in 2015. Together with Susanne Karstedt and Steven Messner, David is editor of the (2012) SAGE Handbook of Criminological Research Methods, and with Margareta Hydén and Allan Wade (2016), Response Based Approaches to Interpersonal Violence .  He was editor of the British Journal of Criminology 2014 and 2021 and co-director of the  Responses to Interpersonal Violence Network hosted by the University of Linköping.

David recently concluded work on three funded research projects: the ESRC funded Perpetrators of Modern Slavery Offences project, led by Rose Broad; the NIHR funded ADVANCE (Advancing theory and treatment approaches for males in substance misuse treatement who perpetrate intimate partner violence) Programme, led by Gail Gilchrist; and a VAHMN-funded feasibility study looking at how best to measure the long-term support needs of sexual assault survivors. David has previously led a number of major projects. These include Mapping the Contours of Human Trafficking for the N8 Policing Partnership; the ESRC funded From Boys to Men Project project which looked at what can be done to stop young men becoming perpetrators of domestic violence in later life; the European Commission funded ReADaPt Project which examined domestic abuse prevention and education across Europe; an ESRC funded study on the perpetrators of racially motivated crime and a Scottish Executive funded study on male victims of domestic abuse. David is also collaborating with Professor Stephen Tomsen (University of Western Sydney) on a project addressed to Disengagement from Violence, funded by the Australian Research Council and has previously conducted research for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission on Public Authorities' Responses to Targeted Violence.  David's research on domestic abuse has informed recent public awareness campaigns to change men's behaviour, and has been cited in debates in the Houses of Parliament in the caes made for preventative education and perpetrator interventions. 

David serves on Greater Manchester Combined Authority's Gender Based Violence Board, and played a key role in drafting the ten year strategy which that board is implementing.  David is also a trustee for Respect, the umbrella organisation, which sets standards for perpetrator interventions in the UK's VCSE sector. In 2022, David was an ESRC IMpact Prize Finalist. A video summarising his work for the prize can be accessed here.