Violence, Crime and Justice - University of Birmingham

This theme encompasses a broad range of work relating to criminal activity, violence of different sorts, and the workings of justice systems dealing with them.

It includes the law of war, substantive and procedural criminal law, and emerging and transitional justice mechanisms within national, European and international fora. It ranges from well-established crimes, such as those perpetrated during acts of terrorism, to challenging the injustices of harms not usually recognised as criminal, such as the discriminatory drafting of law or operation of criminal justice institutions.

Researchers have worked closely with organisations within the United Nations, European Union institutions, the Council of Europe, House of Lords Select Committees, the West Midlands Police, the Law Commission, NGOs and advocated for justice for vulnerable and minority groups. Research has been published in the Journal of International Criminal Justice, Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, the Journal of Law and Society, the Criminal Law Review, Crime, Law and Social Change and Theoretical Criminology.

Staff researching in this theme

Emma Breeze's research focuses on armed conflict, technology, intelligence and international crimes
Steven Cammiss is currently researching the criminal courts' response to protest.
Rachel Charman - Chinese; Language and Law; Equivalence in translation; effect of English judgments on Chinese judicial reform; course design including SQE.
John Child specialises in criminal law, theory and doctrine; and the relationship between criminal law and neuroscience
Janine Natalya Clark's research interests include war, transitional justice, resilience and posthumanism.
Sam Cole's research focusses on probation and rehabilitation, counter-terrorism, and community responses to crime.
Alan Greene's research focuses on emergency powers, human rights, counter-terrorism, and constituent power.
Jason Haynes' research critiques the power asymmetries inherent in select areas of international law and their implications of these asymmetries for vulnerable communities, and explores the emancipatory potential of law and policy to challenge these asymmetries.
Anthea Hucklesby undertakes theoretically informed empirical research on all stages of the criminal justice process.
Natasa Mavronicola's research examines various dimensions of human rights law and practice, including the nature and scope of absolute rights, the (non-paradigmatic) interpretation of key human rights such as the right to life and the right not to be tortured or ill-treated, and the relationship between human rights and state penality.
Kirsty Moreton’s research focuses on healthcare law and ethics primarily involving capacity and decision-making involving children, in the context of trans healthcare, end of life, religious belief, and disagreement between parents and clinicians. Within criminal law her focus is on sexual offences, women’s offending and the intersection of mental health and criminality.
Emma Oakley's research uses socio-legal approaches to investigate legal and regulatory decision-making
Tara Lai Quinlan's research has two areas of focus: 1. disproportionality and diversity in the UK and US criminal justice systems, including policing and jury service; and 2. fairness, accountability and effectiveness of domestic counter-terrorism measures in the UK and US..
Silvana Tapia Tapia develops an anticolonial feminist critique of penal systems and international human rights, foregrounding the practices of anti-carceral social movements.
Marianne Wade's research focuses on EU criminal justice with a particular focus on prosecutors, impact on citizens and selected substantive topics.

In addition to our school-wide seminar series, researchers and postgraduate students can get involved with this theme through the Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing and the BLS Crime research group. Violence, Crime, Justice forms a subject stream in our Annual Research Conference.