Heini Kainulainen got her PhD in law from the University of Helsinki in 2009. Before joining the faculty, she worked as a researcher at the National Research Institute of Legal Policy (Institute of Criminology ang Legal Policy). Kainulainen has been researching and lecturing in the fields of criminology and the sociology of law since 1998. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the criminal control of drug users. In her current research she examines the position of victims in the criminal justice system. She has been an active member of several research networks focusing on theoretical, methodological and ethical issues related to criminological research. At the moment she is a member of the board in the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies and A-Clinic-Foundation. 

Doctor of Laws, University of Helsinki, 2009; Docent of Criminology, University of Helsinki, 2011; Researcher, National Research Institute of Legal Policy, 1996-2013 (-2017); Senior Lecturer, University of Turku, 2013-2019 (-2020); Docent of Criminology, University of Turku, 2019; Professor of Criminal Law, University of Turku, 2019-2020.