Dr Katie Benson is Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses primarily on the role played by lawyers in the facilitation of money laundering and the criminal justice and regulatory responses to this. Her monograph on this subject, Lawyers and the Proceeds of Crime: The Facilitation of Money Laundering and Its Control, was published by Routledge in April 2020. It received the American Society of Criminology Division of White-Collar and Corporate Crime Outstanding Book Award 2022.

Katie's broader research interests cut across the fields of organised crime, white-collar and financial crime, illicit markets, regulation, and the management and laundering of criminal proceeds. She has been involved in projects on bribery in multinational businesses, domestic bribery, and the cross-border distribution of counterfeit alcohol. Katie co-edited a collection on responses to money laundering, financial crime and corruption in 2020.

Katie is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Centre for Finance and Security. As part of this role, she was appointed to a UK-US Taskforce on the Transatlantic Response to Illicit Finance in 2021. Previously, Katie has worked as Knowledge Manager for the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and as an intelligence analyst within UK law enforcement, and has worked with, or provided advisory/consultancy services to, various government bodies, law enforcement organisations, research institutions, and investigations. 

Katie obtained her ESRC-funded PhD in Crimininology from the University of Manchester in 2016. She also holds an MRes in Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies (Distinction; University of Manchester) and an MSc in Criminology (Distinction; University of Leicester). Katie was Lecturer in Criminology at Lancaster University from 2018-2021.