Alan Norrie

Professor

Criminal Law; Guilt, Forgiveness & Justice; Socio-Legal Theory; Critical Realist & Dialectical Philosophy

School of Law
S1.02, Social Sciences Building
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

Office hours - autumn term
Tuesdays 3-4pm
Thursdays 2.30-3.30pm

024 761 51107

Scholarship

Alan Norrie is interested in the critical and historical analysis of criminal law and in its ethical and doctrinal problems, and in ideas of guilt, forgiveness and justice. His background is in socio-legal theory and in critical realist and dialectical philosophy.

He published a third edition of 'Crime, Reason and History' in 2014, which contains new chapters on self-defence and loss of control. A collection of his recent essays on legal theory, criminal law and justice, 'Justice and the Slaughter Bench: Essays on Law's Broken Dialectic', was published in 2016.

From 2015-18, he held a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. In connection with that, a book entitled 'Rethinking Criminal Justice: Punishment, Abolition and Moral Psychology' will be published in 2025 by Cambridge University Press.

Bio

Alan Norrie taught previously at the Universities of Dundee, Warwick and London. He was Edmund-Davies Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at King's College London (1997-2009) and held the Drapers' Chair in Law at Queen Mary and Westfield College (1994-7). He returned to Warwick in 2009 and was Head of the Law School from 2011-2015. He is past President of the International Association for Critical Realism, a Fellow of the British Academy and has held a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2015-18).

His books include Law, Ideology and Punishment (Kluwer, 1991), Punishment, Responsibility and Justice (Oxford University Press, 2000), Law and the Beautiful Soul (Routledge, 2005), Dialectic and Difference: Dialectical Critical Realism and the Grounds of Justice (Routledge, 2010). A third edition of Crime, Reason and History (Cambridge University Press), originally published in 1993, appeared in 2014, and Justice and the Slaughter Bench: Essays on Law's Broken Dialectic was published in 2016.

Law and the Beautiful Soul won the Hart/SLSA Book Prize and was described as 'an important book which crosses a breathtakingly diverse terrain ... a beautifully written book, which ... demonstrates the author's own journey'. Dialectic and Difference won the Cheryl Frank Memorial Prize.

Publications

Norrie, Alan W., 2023. Crime and the metaphysical animal. Journal of Critical Realism, 22 (5), pp. 904-921
'Norrie, Alan W., 2022. 'Restoration, abolition and the loving prison : Jimmy Boyle and Barlinnie Special Unit. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 61 (1), pp. 103-116
Norrie, Alan W., 2019. Animals who think and love : law, identification and the moral psychology of guilt. Criminal Law and Philosophy, 13, pp. 515-544
Norrie, Alan W., 2019. Identification, atonement and the moral psychology of violation : on Patricio Guzman's Nostalgia for the Light. Journal of Critical Realism, 18 (4), pp. 383-401
Norrie, Alan W., 2019. Love in law's shadow : political theory, moral psychology and young Hegel?s critique of punishment. Social & Legal Studies, 28 (1), pp. 10-30
Norrie, Alan W., 2018. Legal and social murder : what's the difference. Criminal Law Review, pp. 531-542
Norrie, Alan W., 2018. Love actually : law and the moral psychology of forgiveness. Journal of Critical Realism, 18 (4), pp. 390-407
Norrie, Alan W., 2018. Love and justice : can we flourish without addressing the past?. Journal of Critical Realism, 17 (1), pp. 17-33
Norrie, Alan W., 2018. Love in Law's Shadow: Political Theory, Moral Psychology and Young Hegel?s Critique of Punishment. Social & Legal Studies, 28 (1), pp. 10-30
Carvalho, Henrique, Norrie, Alan W., 2017. 'In this Interregnum' : dialectical themes in the critique of criminal justice. Social & Legal Studies, 26 (6), pp. 716-734
Norrie, Alan W., 2016. Critical realism and the metaphysics of justice. Journal of Critical Realism, 15 (4), pp. 391-408
Norrie, Alan W., 2013. Ethics and history : can critical lawyers talk of good and evil?. Criminal Law and Philosophy, 9 (3), pp. 443-456
Norrie, Alan W., 2012. Who is ?The Prince'? : Hegel and Marx in Jameson and Bhaskar. Historical Materialism, 20 (2), pp. 75-104
Norrie, Alan W., 2010. The coroners and justice act 2009 - partial defences to murder (1) loss of control. Criminal Law Review, 4, pp. 275-289
Norrie, Alan W., 2010. The problem of mistaken self-defense : citizenship, Chiasmus and legal form. New Criminal Law Review: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol.13 (No.2), pp. 357-378
Norrie, Alan W., 2008. Justice on the slaughter-bench : the problem of war guilt in Arendt and Jaspers. New Criminal Law Review, Vol.11 (No.2), pp. 187-231

Norrie, Alan W., 2021. Taking guilt seriously : towards a mature retributivism. In Solanke, I. (ed.), On Crime, Society, and Responsibility in the work of Nicola Lacey, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 119-146
Carvalho, Henrique, Norrie, Alan W., Reeves, Craig, 2019. Between persecution and reconciliation : criminal justice, legal form and human emancipation. Christodoulidis, Emilios; Dukes, Ruth; Goldoni, Marco (eds.), Research Handbook on Critical Legal Theory, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Norrie, Alan W., 2017. Responsibility and the metaphysics of justice. Norrie, Alan W. (ed.), Justice and the slaughter bench : essays on law's broken dialectic, Abingdon ; New York, Routledge
Norrie, Alan W., 2017. Justice and the slaughter bench : essays on law's broken dialectic. Abingdon ; New York, Routledge
Norrie, Alan W., 2015. La Justicia en la Mesa de Sacrificios de la Historia : la Culpa de la Guerra en Arendt y Jaspers. Bogota, Universidad Libre/ OLAP
Norrie, Alan, 2014. Self defence [3rd Edition]. Crime, Reason and History: A Critical Introduction to Criminal Law, Cambridge University Press
Norrie, Alan W., 2014. Crime, reason and history : a critical introduction to criminal law. New York, Cambridge University Press
Norrie, Alan W., 2013. Law, ethics and socio-history : the case of freedom. Feenan, Dermot (ed.), Exploring the 'socio' of socio-legal studies, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK ; New York, NY, Palgrave Macmillan
Norrie, Alan W., 2010. Dialectic and difference : dialectical critical realism and the grounds of justice. London, Routledge
Norrie, Alan W., 2009. Citizenship, authoritarianism and the changing shape of the criminal law. In McSherry, Bernadette; Norrie, Alan W. (Alan William), 1953-; Bronitt, Simon (eds.), Regulating deviance : the redirection of criminalisation and the futures of criminal law, Oxford, Hart, pp. 13-34

'Norrie, Alan, 'Morgan, Jamie, 2021. 'Realism, dialectic, justice and law : an interview with Alan Norrie. Journal of Critical Realism, Informa UK Limited, pp. 98-122
Norrie, Alan W., 2019. Review of Critical Engagement : Irish Republicanism, Memory Politics and Policing by Kevin Hearty. Social & Legal Studies, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 417-421
Norrie, Alan W., 2019. Beyond persecutory impulse and humanising trace : on Didier Fassin's The Will to Punish. Criminal Law and Philosophy, Springer Verlag, pp. 681-688
Norrie, Alan W., 2018. Review of The Preventive Turn in Criminal Law by Henrique Carvalho. Theoretical Criminology, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 608-610
Norrie, Alan W., 2013. Debate Hegel and Bhaskar : reply to Roberts. Journal of Critical Realism, Maney Publishing, pp. 359-376
Norrie, Alan W., 2011. Inaugural lecture 'the scene and the crime'. University of Warwick
Norrie, Alan W., 2010. Alan Brudner and the dialectics of criminal law. University of Warwick
Norrie, Alan W., 2010. Legal form and moral judgement : the problem of euthanasia. University of Warwick
Norrie, Alan W., 2010. Legal form and moral judgment : the problem of euthanasia. Department of Law, University of Warwick
Norrie, Alan W., 2009. Justice on the slaughter-bench : the problem of war guilt in Arendt and Jaspers. University of Warwick, School of Law

Teaching Projects

Funded

Title	Funder	Award start	Award end
Restoring Restorative Justice: Rational Reconstruction via Identificatory Guilt (Leverhulme ECF - Amanda Wilson)	Leverhulme Trust	01 Nov 2020	31 Oct 2023
Criminal Justice and the Blaming Relation	Leverhulme Trust	01 Sep 2015	31 Mar 2019

Highlighted

Research Supervision