Criminal Justice Centre » News (tag [CJC Events])

'The McDonaldization of justice and the disappearance of fair trial?' Conference 19- 21 May 2022

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 10:21:00 GMT

From 19 - 21 May 2022 the 11th conference in the series The Future of Adversarial and Inquisitorial System, a collaboration between the Universities of Warwick, North Carolina, Bologna, Basel and Duke University will be hosted at Scarman House, University of Warwick.

The conference draws upon what Ritzer has described as a kind of McDonaldization of criminal justice. As the trial becomes increasingly rare, along with opportunities to challenge the reliability of evidence, the accused finds herself encouraged to make an admission at the earliest opportunity based on the information gathered during the police investigation. The presence of defence counsel at strategic points in the process lends some legitimacy, but the practices of law reflect little of the safeguards and values so celebrated in the rhetoric of both adversarial and inquisitorial-type systems. Processes are being ‘simplified’ – not in ways that make the process clear and easy to navigate – but through the removal of fundamental safeguards deemed too costly and time-consuming such as juries, judicial investigation, or any form of trial or contestation of charges. Added to this are new types of evidence, gathered in as yet unregulated ways, the nature and provenance of which require careful scrutiny if they are to form the basis of prosecution and conviction.

Several conference panels will be devoted to discussion of these themes drawing on Hodgson’s The Metamorphosis of Criminal Justice (2020, OUP). In this work, through a comparative analysis of the potentially radical and fundamental changes taking place across two contrasting jurisdictions (England and Wales, and France), she explores the ways that criminal justice traditions continue to be shaped in different ways by broader policy and political concerns, and the ways in which different systems adapt, change and distort when faced with (sometimes conflicting) pressures domestically and externally. This comparative lens also illuminates the ways that, in England and Wales and in France, different procedural values may serve to structure or limit reform, and so work to facilitate or resist change.

Thursday 19th May is devoted to presentations from Early Career Researchers. View the programme.
Attendance is free, but participants must register via email first to secure a place.

The main conference takes place on Friday 20th and the morning of Saturday 21st May. View the programme.
All are welcome but you must register via email and there is a small charge for attendance (£35 Friday, including lunch; £25 Saturday). You are also welcome to join the conference dinner on the evening of Friday 20th May at a cost of £35.

More details including conference programmes and registration details can be found here.

Call for papers : Third Annual CJC PhD Research Conference

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 10:17:00 GMT

The Criminal Justice Centre will be hosting its third annual PhD research conference on Friday 29th April 2022.

The theme for this year is: 'Criminal Questions: Paths (and Shortcuts) within and beyond the Law'.

This one-day conference seeks to bring together PhD researchers at any stage of their programme who are interested in topics related to criminal justice, criminal law or criminology.

Submission of Abstract:

If you are interested in participting please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words to cjc@warwick.ac.uk .

When submitting this abstract include your name, institutional affiliation and department.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15^th March 2022.

Successful applicants will be notified in the week commencing 28^th March 2022.

CJC academics host an international workshop on global policing and migration in a globalized world

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 15:44:00 GMT

On the 9th and 10th September 2020, CJC’s Ana Aliverti and Ioana Vrăbiescu hosted an international workshop on the policing of mobility to explore the new configuration of policing under conditions of globalization and mass migration.

Book launch of Henrique Carvalho's ‘The Preventive Turn in Criminal Law’ (Oxford University Press) hosted by the CJC

Sat, 02 Dec 2017 11:09:39 GMT

The Criminal Justice Centre hosted the launching of Dr. Henrique Carvalho's book ‘The Preventive Turn in Criminal Law’ last Thursday, November 30, 2017. ‘The Preventive Turn in Criminal Law’, offers the latest addition to the Oxford Monographs on Criminal Law and Justice published by OUP (Oxford University Press). This new book seeks to understand where the impulse for prevention in criminal law comes from, and why this preventive dimension seems to be expanding in recent times. The series aims to cover all aspects of criminal law and procedure including criminal evidence and encompassing both practical and theoretical works. The general idea of a ‘preventive turn’ in criminal law is a modern spate of new criminal offences that criminalise conduct that happens much earlier than the actual harm which they are trying to prevent.

The book launching ceremony was well attended by many members of the Law School family at Warwick and beyond. Professor Lucia Zedner (Oxford), Professor Peter Ramsay (LSE) and Professor Alan Norrie (Warwick) were present as discussants. The event concluded with a wine reception.

Screening of "Fallout" hosted by Warwick's CJC

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 11:49:34 GMT

On November 03, 2017, Warwick's Criminal Justice Centre hosted a screening of the documentary film ‘Fallout’ which examines the stories of four different people who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for serious offenses. The film was followed by a panel discussion involving Paddy Hill and Robert Brown, both wrongfully convicted of murder and who spent, respectively, 16 and 25 years in prison. The film's director Mark McLoughlin, as well as CJC researcher Dr. Juliet Horne and Jodie Blackstock from JUSTICE, spoke at the event. The discussions shed much-needed light on the often traumatic afterlife of those freed from prison following the admission of a miscarriage of justice.

Ninth Conference on the Future of Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 16:16:33 GMT

Jackie Hodgson, CJC Director, and CJC members Divya Sukumar and Sharda Ramdewor will take part in the Ninth Conference on the Future of Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems. The theme of this year's conference is: 'Rights and Remedies in Criminal Procedure: Examining the Nature of the Relationship'. The Conference cycle on the Future of Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems is a collaboration between the University of Warwick (UK), the University of North Carolina (USA), the University of Bologna-Ravenna (Italy) and the University of Basel (Switzerland).

Sharda and Divya will both present their research during the pre-conference for young scholars. Sharda will talk about 'Using Body Worn Video as evidence to combat disproportionate stop and searches/frisks' and Divya will present a paper entitled ' Strategic Disclosure of Evidence in Police Interviews: Implications for Suspects and their Lawyers'.

Jackie will act as a moderator for the pre-conference for young scholars and take part in the main conference. She will sit on a panel on 'Comparative Approaches to Rights and Remedies in a Time of Austerity'. In this panel, the different approaches of adversarial and inquisitorial procedural traditions to the guaranteeing of rights, and how the rise of managerialism and reduced budgets has impacted these guarantees in theory and in practice will be considered.

A. Rights are protected in different ways. In a party-based adversarial procedural model, (positive) fair trial rights are an integral part of equality of arms for the defense. Inquisitorially rooted models have relied historically on the more neutral ideology of judicial officers responsible for investigation and prosecution, and this has created tensions with the recent strengthening of positive rights through EU directives (such as those implementing the so-called roadmap) and ECtHR decisions such as Salduz v Turkey. Some jurisdictions, such as France, regard the imposition of the right to counsel at the first stages of the investigation as rooted in the Anglo-Saxon tradition and so inappropriate for French criminal justice.

B. The constant push for cheaper and speedier processes of criminal justice undercuts the protection of rights in both procedural models – from the resourcing of legal aid; to the time available to prepare the defense; to the ability of public prosecutors to oversee case preparation and the disposal of cases through alternatives to trial.

ESRC Festival of Social Science - Prisoner wellbeing and the experience of punishment

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 06:46:54 GMT

The CJC is delighted to have been awarded funding by the ESRC to host an event as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science on Saturday 14 November 2015.

The CJC multi-format event aims to bring together different perspectives on the experience of punishment, in order to raise awareness of, promote social science research on and generate debate on prisoner wellbeing and its consequences to criminal justice policy and practice. The full-day event will encourage an interactive open debate between academics and non-academics through drawing on a range of perspectives on the topic, from that of those responsible for formulating and implementing prison policy, and that of social scientists researching punishment and criminal justice, to that of those with first-hand, lived experiences of punishment within prisons. Interactive sessions will include: screening and discussion of the film ‘Herman’s House’ (a movie about the communication between an architect and a life prisoner in the US); a workshop run by the Empty Cages Collective about the conditions and experience of imprisonment in England and Wales; and an exhibition of prisoners’ creative self-expression (letters, photography, paintings, etc.) followed by discussion.

Public Lecture - The Future of International Criminal Justice (Judge Howard Morrison)

Mon, 17 Nov 2014 08:05:13 GMT

Last week, we were incredibly privileged to have one of the most influential people in international criminal law at the moment, Judge Howard Morrison CBE QC, not only give a public lecture on 'The Future of International Criminal Justice' but also generously partake in a question and answer session with this year's International Criminal Law students.

A lot of the discussions were based around future developments such as environmental crimes being labelled as crimes against humanity, transnational corporations becoming accountable under the jurisdiction of the ICC, and the potential of tribunals being established in areas such as Israel and Syria. However, what was abundantly clear throughout was that despite the potential for many changes for the ICC and international criminal justice in the future, Judge Morrison's unwavering devotion to the rule of law, the principle of no impunity and the fundamental necessity of adhering to the fair trial procedure shall always remain intact.

His lasting message was that while the ICC cannot solve the world's problems, it should at the very least make sure that what it can do must be done properly, without pandering to power politics or convenience. That is what true international criminal justice should constitute, whether in the past, present, or future.

If you have missed it, a recording of his public lecture is available at: https://lecturecapture.warwick.ac.uk/ess/echo/presentation/0eeab87c-d7e1-40d4-aa9c-f2c430993823

Warwick-Monash Conference on Legal Aid Cuts

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 09:44:07 GMT

The University of Warwick will be holding a conference on 19 March 2014 for the partnership project with Monash University: Access to Justice: A Comparative Analysis of cuts to the civil and criminal Legal Aid systems in England, Wales and Victoria.

The conference will include academics, researchers and practitioners and will look at the impact of civil and criminal legal aid cuts, focusing on:

The changing face of the legal profession
The lawyer-client relationship and
The broader social consequences of the cuts.

Colleagues from Monash University will also be attending and providing a comparative perspective on recent legal aid reforms. A second conference will be hosted by Monash University in July 2014.