Karyn McCluskey

Karyn worked in the police for the last 22 years in Sussex, Lancashire, West Mercia, Strathclyde and Police Scotland. She took up the post of Chief Executive for Community Justice Scotland in October 2016.

She was Director of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit for the last decade, which proposed a different way of addressing violence in Scotland. They developed injury surveillance, gang intervention and gang exit, and focused on preventing knife carrying and injury. She helps support Medics Against Violence charity in Scotland, set up in conjunction with the Violence Reduction Unit.

Karyn trained as a registered nurse, has a B.Sc and M.Sc in Psychology and is a fellow by distinction of the Faculty of Public Health. She received Honorary Doctorate from University of Glasgow for work on prevention of violence and an Honorary Masters from the Open University. She is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Glasgow. She has worked in a variety of areas within the NHS, East Africa and HM Prisons. She has published work on Armed Robbery teams, Alcohol and Violence Interventions in a clinical setting and Violence Reduction.

She is a board member of Simon Community Scotland tackling homelessness and is on the Board of the Scottish Professional Football League.