Criminal Law Reform Now Network
Launched in 2017 and partly funded by the AHRC, the mission of the Criminal Law Reform Now Network (CLRN Network) is to facilitate collaboration between academics and other legal experts to gather and disseminate comprehensible proposals for criminal law reform to the wider community. We include members of the public and mainstream media as well as legal professionals, police, policymakers and politicians. Our proposals might require legislation but we do not restrict ourselves to such projects. Reforms which public bodies such as the Home Office, Police or CPS can bring about by internal policies interest us, as do reforms which require the support of some of the judiciary, bearing in mind the proper judicial constraints on law making. We are ready to consult with and make suggestions to anyone who has the power to bring about reform.
Our current projects focus on:
1) The Computer Misuse Act 1990
2) The system of Private Prosecutions
News
Computer Misuse Act Project
Scrutiny Symposium on the 7th May 2019, at the University of Birmingham.
Click the link on the right for details and registration.
Part-Time Job Opportunity working with the Network
We are advertising for a Network Facilitator to work with the CLRNN Committee - coordinating across the projects; assisting with research events, and engaging with our target reform audiences. The position is a fractional 0.2 contract (one day a week), with the potential for flexible and remote working.
Follow this link for full details and to APPLY.
For more information, contact Dr John Child (CLRNN Co-Director) - j.j.child@bham.ac.uk
Criminal Law Reform Now Edited Collection - OUT TODAY
If you could change one part of the criminal law, what would it be? The editors put this question to nine leading academics and practitioners. The first nine chapters of the collection present their responses in the form of legal reform proposals, with topics ranging across criminal law, criminal justice and evidence – including confiscation, control orders, criminal attempts, homicide, assisted dying, the special status of children, time restrictions on prosecution, the right to silence, and special measures in court. Each chapter is followed by a comment from a different author, providing an additional expert view on each reform proposal. Finally, the last two chapters broaden the debate to discuss criminal law reform in general, examining various reform bodies and mechanisms across England, Wales and Scotland. Criminal Law Reform Now highlights and explores the current reform debates that matter most to legal experts, with each chapter making a case for positive change.
Table of contents:
1. Reflections on Proceeds of Crime: A New Code for Confiscation?
Michael Levi
Comment from Colin King
2. Rationalising Civil Preventive Orders: Opportunities for Reform
Stephen Shute
Comment from Zachary Hoskins
3. Reforming the Law of Criminal Attempt: Take Two
Shachar Eldar
Comment from JJ Child
4. Done to Death? Reform of Homicide Law
Sally Kyd
Comment from Simon McKay
5. The CPS, Policy-Making and Assisted Dying: Towards a 'Freedom' Approach
Andrew Sanders
Comment from RA Duff
6. How Should the Criminal Law Respond to the 'Special Status' of Children?
Heather Keating
Comment from Gideon Yaffe
7. The Time Limit on Prosecutions for Underage Sexual Intercourse in the Sexual Offences Act 1956: A Continuing Problem
Jonathan Rogers
Comment from Hannah Quirk
8. Safe and Effective Courtroom Participation for Domestic Violence Complainant-Witnesses
Charlotte Bishop
Comment from Vanessa Munro
9. The Case for Restoring the Right of Silence
Hannah Quirk
Comment from Abenaa Owusu-Bempah
10A. 'Lawyers' Law' and the Limitations and Flaws of the Role of Reform Bodies in Criminal Law
Peter Alldridge
10B. Criminal Law Reform: A View from Across the Border
Pamela R. Ferguson
Committee
- Dr J.J. Child, - University of Sussex – Director
- Dr J. Rogers, - UCL – Director
- Professor Liz Campbell, - University of Durham
- Mr Simon McKay, - Barrister
- Mr Paul Jarvis, - Barrister
- Ms Abigail Bright, - Barrister
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Project Process
How the CLRN Network operates; and status of current projects.
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Event Registration
Computer Misuse Act - Scrutiny Symposium - 7th May 2019 - Click here for details
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