Criminal Law Reform Now Network
Launched in 2017, 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 aim to include members of the public and mainstream media as well as legal professionals, police, policymakers and politicians. Our proposals might require legislation but we will not restrict ourselves to such projects. Reforms which public bodies such as the Home Office, Police or CPS could bring about by internal policies may interest us, as are reforms which require the support of some of the judiciary, bearing in mind the proper judicial constraints on law making. We will be ready to consult with and make suggestions to anyone who has the power to bring about reform.
News
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
Private Prosecutions Project - Framework Document and Project Opportunities
Building from our successful launch event for the Private Prosecutions Project on the 19th April 2018, and a series of CLRNN Committee discussions, we are now able share our Framework Document for the Project. Thanks to all those who have contributed to the project so far, both within and beyond the launch symposium. The framework document sets out the basic structure that we propose for our collaborative report.
We now seek your help with:
1) Feedback on the Framework Document: If you believe we have missed something within our framework, or have any comments about the document, please let us know;
2) Joining the writing team: Our projects work through the collaborative writing of reports, assisted by the CLRNN Committee and future evaluative symposiums. We therefore ask you contact us if you are in a position to write a chapter (or part of a chapter, however small) from the framework. We would also like to hear from you if you are not in a position to contribute as an author, but you could provide some expert commentary/editing. Feel free to contact us to discuss all options for potential involvement.
In each event, please contact our Project Lead (and Co-CLRNN Director) Dr Jonathan Rogers - jwr53@cam.ac.uk.
Alternatively, you may also contact Co-CLRNN Director Dr John Child - J.J.Child@bham.ac.uk.
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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