Criminal Law, Criminal Justice and Criminology

The Criminal Law, Criminal Justice and Criminology research cluster is comprised of staff engaged in research related to criminal justice matters, from the substantive criminal law to the administration of justice to criminological perspectives.

|| members || current research || news and events ||

The cluster works closely with the Socio-legal cluster but also covers doctrinal research into crime. The members of the cluster have disparate areas of interest including sex offences, domestic violence, homicide, drugs policy, driving offences and the work of the International Criminal Court. Several of the members conduct research which is interdisciplinary in nature.

Members

Current research

PhD research topics in criminal law

Driving Offences Reseearch

Sally Kyd and Steven Cammiss have received a grant from the Road Safety Trust for a project entitled: "Promoting Safety for Vulnerable Road Users: Assessing the Investigation and Enforcement of Endangerment Offences". This study seeks to collect empirical evidence of the way in which driving offences are enforced using a multi-method approach.Working with three police forces, files relating to allegations of careless and dangerous driving are being analysed, followed by interviews with police officers. Alongside this, focus groups are being conducted with vulnerable road users (cyclists) to explore their experience of being victims of offending behaviour on the roads. Of particular focus is the increased availability of third party footage available to the police in prosecuting allegations of bad driving, from dash-cams and helmet/bike-mounted cameras. The researchers aim to identify best practice in roads policing and establish what affects decision-making in relation to disposals when dealing with cases of risk-taking behaviour by drivers.

Sentencing for Robbery and Sexual Offences

Mandy Burton and Sally Kyd along with colleagues in Psychology, evaluated the sentencing guidelines for robbery and sexual offences on behalf of the Sentencing Council.

Charlotte Walsh
Charlotte is a member of the ICEERS Expert Committee for the Regularization of Psychoactives, a group concerned with co-ordinating a common defence strategy in cases involving plant psychedelics used either in therapeutic or ceremonial settings. She is currently involved in establishing the Teacher Plants Legal Defense Fund.