Criminal Justice Centre » News (tag [Jackie Hodgson])

'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.

New book by CJC Member Jacqueline S. Hodgson ‘The Metamorphosis of Criminal Justice’

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 09:34:32 GMT

Published in April 2020 by Oxford University Press, the focus of this book is the potentially radical and fundamental changes that are taking place within criminal justice in Britain and in France and the ways that these are driven by wider domestic, European or international concerns. This metamorphosis away from established values and practices is eroding what were once regarded as core rights and freedoms in the name of efficiency, security and justice to victims.

CJC members Jackie Hodgson, Juliet Horne and Laurene Soubise publish research report ‘The Criminal Cases Review Commission – Last resort or first appeal?’

Sat, 15 Dec 2018 04:05:00 GMT

CJC members, Professor Jackie Hodgson, Dr Juliet Horne and Dr Laurene Soubise, have recently published their research report ‘The Criminal Cases Commission – Last resort or first appeal?’. The research was funded by the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.

Report Published: UK’s future relationship with the EU after Brexit in the areas of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:11:00 GMT

The European Parliament has recently published a research paper on the future EU-UK relationship in the field of Police Cooperation and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters. This study was supported by, among others, Warwick CJC's Professor Jackie Hodgson. The paper can be accessed in full here.

Jackie Hodgson Appointed Academic Expert to JUSTICE's 'What is a Trial?' Working Party

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 15:42:28 GMT

CJC Member Professor Jackie Hodgson is to join JUSTICE's 'What is a Trial' Working Party chaired by Sir Nicholas Blake QC, alongside other distinguished legal and academic experts from across the country. Building upon the work of previous JUSTICE inquiries and considering research into lay court users' experience of going to court, the Working Party will consider the extent to which the trial - in criminal, civil and administrative cases - may operate to exclude witnesses, jurors, and the public. It will evaluate the extent to which adversarial approaches, questioning, and culture, alienate court users and whether evidential, procedural and cultural practices are outmoded. In view of the introduction of special measures and HMCTS' Reform Programme, the Working Party will also explore whether technical innovations to the criminal trial help or hinder lay court users in participating effectively in the trial and communicating with professional court users.

Jackie brings her expertise in comparative criminal justice and detailed knowledge of adversarial and inquisitorial trial processes to the Working Party. Jackie is also Ph.D. Supervisor to Natalie Kyneswood, who is Rapporteur for the Working Party and whose thesis focuses on whether pre-recorded evidence is achieving best evidence and fairer trials in practice.

The Working Party commenced in February 2018 and is due to report at the end of the year. It will take evidence from its members, lay court users and those working in the court system and aims to provide positive and appropriate recommendations to the legal profession and policymakers to promote fairer trials and the effective involvement of all lay court users in trials in England and Wales.

For more information about the Working Party, follow this link: https://justice.org.uk/our-work/areas-of-work/what-is-a-trial/

Call for Papers: 10th Conference on the Future of Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 22:34:05 GMT

The Early Career Scholars’ Day 2018 and the 10th Conference on the Future of Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems will be taking place on 25 April 2018 at the Faculty of Law, University of Basel. The theme of the conference is "Accountability of Criminal Justice Systems: Formation, Application and Enforcement of Law in Changing Circumstances".

Accountability in criminal justice has many dimensions: We expect accurate outcomes, procedural fairness, protections of civil liberties, and respectful treatment of all participants in the criminal justice system to the extent possible. Traditionally, we have accorded great power and influence to expert practitioners in the system − be they police, judges, prosecutors, or defense counsel. As victims, defendants and ordinary citizens increase their ability to tell their stories in new ways, their concerns have changed the way that scholars and politicians think about what it means to be accountable. Whether we start with an inquisitorial or adversarial model, increased transparency in the digital age has led to a corresponding increase in pressure on all of the participants in the system. Competing priorities inevitably lead to tradeoffs between incommensurable interests. Maintaining a legitimate system requires thoughtful engagement to manage potential conflicts, and to rebalance the approaches the participants adopt in light of new information.

In this session, we will hear presentations from early-career scholars writing about accountability in criminal justice from comparative and national law perspectives. We welcome authors interested in critiquing the system from a descriptive or normative perspective, or in proposing new methods, approaches or perspectives that will further the conversation on defining and achieving accountability in criminal justice.

The application should encompass:

− maximum 5 pages of the research subject you would like to present

− CV with full contact details

Application deadline: 15 February 2018

Applications should be sent to the conference coordinator, Professor Sabine Gless, to the following address: sabine.gless@unibas.ch. The selected students will give a presentation of their work in front of their peers. Then, discussants will include the members of the 10th Conference on the Future of the Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems, among them Prof Jackie Hodgson (University of Warwick), Prof Richard Myers (University of North-Carolina at Chapel Hill), Prof Michele Caianiello (University of Bologna), Prof Sabine Gless (University of Basel). The floor will be open to debates. Travel expenses linked to the participation at the Ph.D. seminar, unfortunately, cannot be covered.

Jacqueline Hodgson writes expert comment on the decision to allow a small number of prisoners the right to vote

Sat, 09 Dec 2017 20:12:54 GMT

A 12-year stand-off came to an end this week when a British compromise offer to extend the franchise in very limited circumstances was accepted by the Council of Europe. Warwick Law School Professor Jacqueline Hodgson has written why this issue has been so controversial and why has it taken the UK 12 years to finally fall into line. Further details here.

Professor Jackie Hodgson talks current affairs on BBC Radio and BBC World Service’s Newshour

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 11:59:17 GMT

Professor Jackie Hodgson spoke live on BBC Radio 4 on November 2, 2017, about the recent events in Catalonia. Professor Hodgson was asked by BBC Radio 4’s Eddie Mair on the PM news program whether Spain could issue a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) to secure the return of Carles Puigdemont in order to appear before the Spanish court. Professor Hodgson explained that whilst this was a politically charged situation, this would not prevent the extradition of Señor Puigdemont and colleagues, provided that the Spanish legal authorities could demonstrate their intention to bring criminal charges.

Professor Hodgson made a second radio appearance on November 4, 2017, when she was interviewed on the BBC World Service’s Newshour during which she explained the nature of the European Arrest Warrant and the strong grounds that would be required in order to resist its execution.

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.