News: socio-legal publications
This page contains details of socio-legal publications including books, journals, reports, papers and newsletters/bulletins.
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Latest publications ...
New contribution to the JLS Blog: Meet the book author – Dr Jaime Lindsey
New book: Egalitarian Digital Privacy: Image-Based Abuse and Beyond, by Tsachi Keren-Paz
Books
Egalitarian Digital Privacy: Image-Based Abuse and Beyond, by Tsachi Keren-Paz
With a focus on private law theory, the book defines the appropriate scope of civil liability for breach of privacy of platforms and viewers for hosting and viewing non-consensual intimate images while critiquing both EU and US solutions to the problem. Through its analysis, the book develops a new theory of egalitarian digital privacy. The core policy argument in this book is threefold: first, that harm from invading one’s sexual privacy is more severe and pernicious than other harms from users’ content. As such, it justifies a filtering obligation for hosts backed by strict liability for any remaining images and strict liability of those who view these images; crucially, the same is not necessarily true for other user content such as defamatory speech and breach of copyright. Second, once it is understood that child pornography is a sub-category of NCII, but that the latter involves the same types of harms as the former, the current regulatory gap between the ways the two types of right-violations are treated should be significantly narrowed down. Third, hosting and viewing NCII is akin to selling and buying stolen property. Whether the right to privacy ought to be considered as alienable (property) or not, it does not make sense that those who sell and buy it would be in a better position than those who sell and buy personal property. Published by Bristol University Press. See website for details and to pre-order.
Routledge Handbook of Social Media, Law and Society: supplementary call for papers
The editors, Dr Kim Barker and Dr Olga Jurasz, are open to receiving any relevant submissions addressing the theme of social media from a socio-legal perspective. This second supplementary call invites submissions focusing on specific areas of interest to the Handbook. See announcement for details. Closing date: 14 April 2023.
New book: Looking after Miss Alexander by Janet Weston: 30% discount available
In July 1939, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, 59-year-old Beatrice Alexander was found incapable of managing her own property and affairs. Although she and those living with her insisted that she was perfectly well, the official solicitor took control of her home and money, evicted her ‘friends’ and hired a live-in companion to watch over her. Miss Alexander remained legally incapable for the next 30 years. In the mid-twentieth century, she was one of about 30,000 people in England and Wales who were in this position and under the auspices of what is now the Court of Protection. Drawing on newly opened Court of Protection archives and micro-historical methods, Looking after Miss Alexander: Care, Mental Capacity, and the Court of Protection in Mid-twentieth Century England examines the history of the court and highlights the role of chance, subjectivity, and uncertainty in shaping how events unfolded then, and the stories we tell about those events today. An engaging and accessible history of mental capacity law, Looking After Miss Alexander examines ideas of citizenship and welfare, gender and vulnerability, care and control, and the role of the state. Available with 30% off (£18.99) by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting promo code MQF2; also available as a free ebook from the National Library of Medicine.
New Book: The Militarisation of Behaviours: Social Control and Surveillance in Poland and Ireland by Błażej Kaucz
Published byt Springer, this book examines how historical military influences can become embedded and used by the state to control citizens' behaviour, termed the militarisation of behaviours. It refers to the treatment of citizens by their state in a manner resembling the treatment of soldiers by the army. The militarisation of behaviours is a process of mass social control where the state exercises its powers over the population, blurring the boundaries between a dichotomous divide of civilian and military life. This book focuses on the social process of how Polish post-WWII emergency legislation was normalised and how through it the Polish communist state (from 1943/4 until 1989) introduced and enforced the process of militarisation of behaviours. It discusses the impact of the emergency legislation on the Republic of Ireland as a comparison. It offers a useful lens to understand the social and political processes happening currently in Poland, Ireland, and elsewhere, with the increasing influence of the (far) right. This book is situated in the framework of criminology and socio-legal studies. See website for details.
Springer Nature: Save like an employee sale: 40% off
Save on selected Springer Nature titles - includes Palgrave. See website for details. Sale ends 24 February 2023.
New book: Luke Taylor, Constructing the Family: Marriage and Work in Nineteenth-Century English Law
In nineteenth-century England, legal conceptions of work and family changed in fundamental ways. Notably, significant legal moves came into play that changed the legal understanding of the family. Constructing the Family examines the evolution of the legal-discursive framework governing work and family relations. Luke Taylor considers the intersecting intellectual and institutional forces that contributed to the dissolution of the household, the establishment of separate spheres of work and family, and the emergence of modern legal and social ideas concerning work and family. He shows how specific legal-institutional moves contributed to the creation of the family's categorical status in the social and legal order and a distinct and exceptional body of rules – family law – for its governance. Shedding light on the historical processes that contributed to the emergence of English family law, Constructing the Family shows how work and family became separate regulatory domains, and in so doing reveals the contingent nature of the modern legal family. Published by University of Toronto Press. See website for details.
Law, Humanities and the Covid Crisis edited by Carl F Stychin: 30% discount on print version
While there has been an abundance of scientific works on the Covid-19 crisis, there has been relatively little research to date from the humanities. This striking new book seeks to address the immediacy of Covid-19 by focusing on the implications of the virus in a wider interdisciplinary context—through the lens of the law, history, ethics, technology, economics, and gender studies. See announcement for full details and discount code.
New book series: Gender, Justice and Legal Feminism – call for book proposals
The series Gender, Justice and Legal Feminism seeks to harness the diverse and innovative work within and across the boundaries of jurisprudence and gender studies, with a specific attention to approaches inspired both by traditional and more recent feminist movements (e.g., both by difference feminism and LGBTQ+ streams – with their different conceptualizations of identity and neutrality). The series editors are Angela Condello and Anne Wagner. The series is being published by Springer. See website for details.
New book: The European Union, Emerging Global Business and Human Rights by Aleydis Nissen: 20% discount available
Aleydis Nissen's book – in the field of business and human rights – focuses on private corporations that are based in developing and emerging countries. The book is original because it does not reduce such corporations to mere 'suppliers of' corporations in Western countries. Rather, the book studies corporations from developing and emerging countries in their own right, and as competitors of corporations based in the European Union. This book uncovers, in particular, which role the European Union and its member states play in regulating (in laws and trade agreements) and remedying human rights violations by corporations from emerging and developing states. See Cambridge University Press website for details and discount code.
New book: Litigants in Person and the Family Justice System by Jessica Mant: 20% discount available
This book is about those who represent themselves as Litigants in Person in the family justice system. It calls for a refocusing of the debate about the historical challenges associated with Litigants in Person as well as the role they should play within the family justice system in England and Wales. Drawing together interviews with Litigants in Person and decades of research into self-representation from across multiple jurisdictions, this book provides an account of the family justice system through the eyes of its users. It employs an innovative socio-legal framework comprising feminist theory, a Bourdieusian theory of class, vulnerability theory, and actor-network theory to explore the journey that Litigants in Person take through the legal, cultural and social context of the family court. It provides fresh insight into the diverse challenges that people face within this process and how these relate to wider pressures within the family justice system. It argues that there are important lessons to be learned from Litigants in Person. By understanding how and why people come to the point of self-representing, and the kinds of experiences they have when they do, the book advocates the importance of forging a more positive and effective relationship between Litigants in Person and the family justice system. See Hart website for details. Use code GLR AP3UK for UK orders and GLR AP3US for US orders at checkout. See website for details.
Minority Recognition and the Diversity Deficit: Comparative Perspectives by edited by Jessika Eichler and Kyriaki Topidi: 20% discount
Published by Hart, this book addresses how forms of minority recognition can be articulated in the law, institutions and contemporary societal contexts. It explores minority rights through critical engagement with the law and its categorisations. Furthermore, it looks at collective recognition through distinct rights, including participation and free speech as well as the challenges within related conflicts of rights. It addresses intersectional forms of discrimination, revealing the complexities of societal exclusion. Looking at empirical findings in Europe and Latin America, the book draws theoretical conclusions and new frameworks of recognition. See website for details. Use code code GLR AP3UK for UK orders and GLR AP3US for US orders at checkout.
New book: An Economic Sociology of Law Reimagined – Beyond embeddedness by Clare Williams
This book critically examines the concept of 'embeddedness': the core concept of an economic sociology of law (ESL). It suggests that our ways of doing, talking and thinking about law, economy and society, reproduce and re-entrench mainstream approaches, shaping our thoughts and actions such that we perform according to the model. Taking a deep dive into one example – the concept of embeddedness – this book combines insights from law, sociology, economics and psychology to show that while we use metaphor to talk about law and economy, our metaphors in turn use us, moulding us into their fictionalized caricatures of homo juridicus and homo economicus. The result is a groundbreaking study into the prioritization throughout society of interests and voices that align with doctrinal understandings of law and neoclassical understandings of economics: approaches that led us into the dilemmas currently facing society. Zooming out from a detailed exploration of embeddedness in economic sociology and ESL literature, the book unpacks the fashionable post-2008 claim that the economy should be re-embedded in society and proposes two conceptual shifts in response. The book draws on personas and vignettes throughout, both to imagine and to realise shifting an ESL beyond embeddedness.
This timely engagement with the emerging field of economic sociology of law will appeal to socio-legal scholars and others with interests in the intersection of law, economics, and sociology. See website for details and to read the two open access chapters.
New book: No Fault Approaches in the NHS, by Sonia Macleod and Christopher Hodges – 35% discount for SLSA members
This book published by Bloomsbury explores how concerns can be raised about the NHS, why raising concerns hasn't always improved standards, and how a no-fault open culture approach could drive improvements. The book describes a wide range of mechanisms for raising concerns about the NHS, including complaints, the ombudsman, litigation, HSIB, and the major inquiries since 2000, across the various UK jurisdictions. The NHS approach is contextualised within the broader societal developments in dispute resolution, accountability, and regulation. The authors take a holistic view, and outline practical solutions for reforming how the NHS responds to problems. These should improve the situation for those raising concerns and for those working within the NHS, as well as providing cost savings. The no-fault approaches proposed in the book provide long-term sustainable solutions to systemic problems, which are particularly timely given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the NHS. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, ADR practitioners, practising lawyers, and policy makers. See website for details. Availabe now to pre-order. Use code GLR CA4UK at checkout.
Edited Collection – Communication and Legal Practice: call for chapters
Editors, Dr Tatiana Grieshofer, Birmingham City University, and Dr Kate Haworth, Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, invite contributions for the edited collection intended for submission to Cambridge University Press. See announcement for full details. Deadline for submission of abstracts: 28 February 2023.
Law's Rule: The nature, value, and viability of the rule of law by Gerald J Postema – 30% discount available
The rule of law, once widely embraced and emulated, now faces serious threats to its viability. To get our bearings we must return to first principles. This book articulates and defends a comprehensive, coherent and compelling conception of the rule of law and defends it against serious challenges to its intelligibility, relevance and normative force. The rule of law's ambition, it argues, is to provide protection and recourse against the arbitrary exercise of power using the distinctive tools of the law. Law provides a bulwark of protection, a bridle on the powerful, and a bond constituting and holding together the polity and giving public expression to an ideal mode of association. Two principles immediately follow from this core: sovereignty of law, demanding that those who exercise ruling power govern with law and that law governs them, and equality in the eyes of the law, demanding that law's protection extend to all bound by it. Animating law's rule, the ethos of fidelity commits all members of the political community, officials and lay members alike, to take responsibility for holding each other accountable under the law. Part I articulates this conception and locates its moral foundation in a commitment to common membership of each person, recognising their freedom, dignity and status as peers. Part II addresses serious challenges currently facing law's rule: finding a place in the legal system for equity, mercy and effective responses to emergencies, taming the new leviathans of the digital world, and extending law's rule beyond national borders. See OUP website for details. Discount code: ALAUTHC4.
New book: What is the Family Justice System For? Mavis Maclean, Rachel Treloar and Bregje Dijksterhuis (eds) – 20% discount available
Does a justice system have a welfare function? If so, where does the boundary lie between justice and welfare, and where can the necessary resources and expertise be found? In a time of austerity, medical emergency, and limited public funding, this book explores the role of the family justice system and asks whether it has a function beyond decision-making in dispute resolution. Might a family justice system even help to prevent or minimise conflict as well as resolving dispute when it arises? See website for details. Use the code GLR T5TUK for UK orders and GLR T5TUS for US orders to get 20% off.
From Discrimination to Death: Genocide Process through a human rights lens, by Melanie O’Brien
From Discrimination to Death studies the process of genocide through the human rights violations that occur during genocide. Using individual testimonies and indepth field research from the Armenian Genocide, Holocaust and Cambodian Genocide, this book demonstrates that a pattern of specific escalating human rights abuses takes place in genocide. Offering an analysis of all these particular human rights as they are violated in genocide, the author intricately brings together genocide studies and human rights, demonstrating how the ‘crime of crimes’ and the human rights law regime correlate. The book applies the pattern of rights violations to the Rohingya Genocide, revealing that this pattern could have been used to prevent the violence against the Rohingya, before advocating for a greater role for human rights oversight bodies in genocide prevention. The pattern ascertained through the research in this book offers a resource for governments and human rights practitioners as a mid-stream indicator for genocide prevention. It can also be used by lawyers and judges in genocide trials to help determine whether genocide took place.
Marriage Unbound: State Law, Power, and Inequality in Contemporary China by Ke Li: 20% discount available
China after Mao has undergone vast transformations, including massive rural-to-urban migration, rising divorce rates, and the steady expansion of the country's legal system. Today, divorce may appear a private concern, when in fact it is a profoundly political matter—especially in a national context where marriage was and has continued to be a key vehicle for nation-state building. Marriage Unbound focuses on the politics of divorce cases in contemporary China, following a group of women seeking judicial remedies for conjugal grievances and disputes.
Drawing on extensive archival and ethnographic data, paired with unprecedented access to rural Chinese courtrooms, Ke Li presents not only a stirring portrayal of how these women navigate divorce litigation, but also a uniquely in-depth account of the modern Chinese legal system. With sensitive and fluid prose, Li reveals the struggles between the powerful and the powerless at the front lines of dispute management; the complex interplay between culture and the state; and insidious statecraft that far too often sacrifices women's rights and interests. Ultimately, this book shows how women's legal mobilization and rights contention can forge new ground for our understanding of law, politics, and inequality in an authoritarian regime. See website for details. Use code UNBOUND20 at checkout.
Habitual Ethics by Sylvie Delacroix: 20% discount available
What if data-intensive technologies’ ability to mould habits with unprecedented precision is also capable of triggering some mass disability of profound consequences? What if we become incapable of modifying the deeply-rooted habits that stem from our increased technological dependence? On an impoverished understanding of habit, the above questions are easily shrugged off. Habits are deemed rigid by definition: ‘as long as our deliberative selves remain capable of steering the design of data-intensive technologies, we’ll be fine’. To question this assumption, this open access book first articulates the way in which the habitual stretches all the way from unconscious tics to purposive, intentionally acquired habits. It also highlights the extent to which our habit-reliant, pre-reflective intelligence normally supports our deliberative selves. It is when habit rigidification sets in that this complementarity breaks down. The book moves from a philosophical inquiry into the ‘double edge’ of habit — its empowering and compromising sides — to consideration of individual and collective strategies to keep habits at the service of our ethical life. Allowing the norms that structure our forms of life to be cotton-wooled in abstract reasoning is but one of the factors that can compromise ongoing social and moral transformations. Systems designed to simplify our practical reasoning can also make us ‘sheep-like’. Drawing a parallel between the moral risk inherent in both legal and algorithmic systems, the book concludes with concrete interventions designed to revive the scope for normative experimentation. It will appeal to any reader concerned with our retaining an ability to trigger change within the practices that shape our ethical sensibility. See Hart Publishing website for details. Use discount codes code GLR T5TUK for UK orders and GLR T5TUS for US orders at checkout. The ebook edition of this book is available as an open access publication.
The Future of High-Cost Credit by Jodi Gardner: 20% discount available
Published by Hart, this book proposes a new way of thinking about the controversial and complex challenges associated with the regulation of high-cost credit, specifically payday lending by exploring the theoretical grounding, policy initiatives and interdisciplinary perspectives associated with high-cost credit. The problems with debt extend far beyond the legal sphere, and the findings will therefore be of interest to many other academic disciplines, as well as for those working in public policy and ‘the third sector’. Use code GLR T5TUK for UK orders and GLR T5TUS for US orders to get 20% off. See website for details.
The Constitutional Legitimacy of Law Officers in the United Kingdom by Conor McCormick: 20% discount available
Published by Hart, this book provides a detailed account of each law officer’s functions and draws on that account as the basis for a broader conceptual analysis of their constitutional legitimacy. The constitutional legitimacy of law officers has been questioned repeatedly in recent years, on account of recurring controversies surrounding the discharge of their varied functions. This book argues that the most persuasive framework for analysing the offices which make up this diverse regime involves concentrating on the constitutional values of independence, accountability and trust which underpin it. Use code GLR T5TUK for UK orders and GLR T5TUS for US orders to get 20% off. See website for details.top
Journals
Call for Special Issue Proposals for The Law Teacher: The International Journal of Legal Education 2024 and 2025
The Editorial Board of The Law Teacher: The International Journal of Legal Education invites proposals for special issues to be published in 2024 and 2025. See announcement for details. Closing date: 31 May 2023.
Law and Society Review: special issue in memory of Laurie Edelman – call for contributions
See announcement for details. Closing date: 31 March 2023.
New open access article: Nuno Ferreira, 'Utterly Unbelievable: The Discourse of "Fake" SOGI Asylum Claims as a Form of Epistemic Injustice'
See website for detail of this article in the International Journal of Regugee Law.
Call for Papers: Shared Responsibility at the EU's External Borders
The (B)OrderS Centre of Queen Mary University of London, with the Observatori de Dret Públic (IDP) Barcelona and members of the European Parliament, invite abstract proposals on the notion of 'shared responsibility' as applied to Frontex, the EU Member States, third countries and private entities regarding the implementation of integrated border management. See website for details. Closng date for submission of abstracts: 1 March 2023.
Special issue of the Medical Law Review: call for papers
Abstracts are invited for this special issue of the Medical Law Review on the theme of ‘Reproductive Health, Choice and Justice' (broadly conceived). Please send expressions of interest in the form of a provisional title and an abstract of no more than 250 words, to the Editors-in-Chief (Sara Fovargue (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or José Miola (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)). See announcement for details. Closing date for submissions: 28 February 2023.
Oñati Socio-Legal Series special issue: 'Rethinking the Caste System' edited by Prakash Shah – open access
All the articles in this issue are available free and online. See website for details.
Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis: special issue dedicated to the memory and scientific contributions of Keebet von Benda-Beckmann – call for contributions
Keebet von Benda-Beckmann unexpectedly passed away on 5 October 2022. In her memory, the journal invites contributions for the special issue that engage with Keebet's oeuvre in an innovative way. See website for details. Closing date: 24 February 2023.
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law: special issue 'The Legal Semiotics of the Digital Face' – call for papers
Submission are invited for this speciall issue edited by Gabriele Marino and Massimo Leone. See website for details. Call closes: 15 August 2023.
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly: Special OA Supplement on Northern Ireland's Legal Order after Brexit
Northern Ireland’s legal order is already making the process of adapting to its special place within the Brexit deal. This Special Supplement of the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, edited by Colin R G Murray, Newcastle University, addresses the nature of the Protocol’s operation within Northern Ireland law, the basis for the UK Government’s claims that hollowing out the domestic legal effect of the Protocol through the Protocol Bill will not breach its international commitments, the significance for Northern Ireland of post-Brexit divergences between Great Britain and the EU in regard to product standards and rights/equality and the ongoing difficulties in navigating post-Brexit arrangements for those on the island of Ireland who fall into the category of frontier workers. Read the complete issue here. There will also be a launch event in the new year.
The Age of Human Rights Journal: call for papers
The Age of Human Rights is an online open-acccessed peer-reivewed journal published by the Universidad de Jaén, Spain. The journal is moving towards a continuous publication model in 2023 and is currently open for submissions. See website for details.
Blogs and other online resources
JRF Framing Toolkit: How to talk about homes
This new toolkit from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation contains essential guidance and tips for anyone who is writing or talking about the importance of homes as fundamental to a decent life. See website for details.
UK Poverty 2023: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK
Published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation UK Poverty 2023 sets out recent trends in poverty across the UK, how levels of poverty differ between groups of people and regions, and the impact it has on people’s lives. These findings can help us to understand the current situation and future prospects for poverty in the UK. See website to download the full report.
New contribution to the JLS Blog: Meet the book author – Dr Jaime Lindsey
The Impact of Care Act Easements under the Coronavirus Act 2020 – research report
Researchers from the University of Manchester have published the final report of their National Insitute for Health and Care Research-funded project entitled 'The impact of Care Act easements under the Coronavirus Act 2020 on co-resident carers, over the age of 70, with spouses or partners living with dementia'. See website for full details.
Sentencing Council publishes Equality and Diversity Review of Sentencing Guidelines
This report of research conducted by the University of Hertfordshire on for the Sentencing Council waspublished on 10 January 2023. See website for details.
UKRI Blog: Introducing our theory of change
Christopher Smith, UKRI International Champion and Executive Chair, Arts and Humanities Research Council, introduces the theory of change – a key component of UKRI strategy, setting out the steps needed to take to achieve the UKRI's ambitions and deliver its vision.See website for details.
Chocolate, Law and Dinosaurs: new podcast from Keele Law School
This new monthly staff and student podcast is available on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
LSE Blog: Adding equity to transformative agreements and journal subscriptions – The Read & Let Read model
The transition towards open access to research articles has become a question of how, rather than why and the rise of transformative agreements has enabled publishers to strike agreements with large institutions and national research organisations to provide open access and authorship to their members. In this post, Arthur J. Boston puts forward an alternative Read & Let Read model, which could extend access beyond these limited groups and create a framework for more collaborative funding for access to open access research. See website for details.
AcSS We Society latest podcast: Ann Phoenix: It takes a village to raise a child
The latest podcast is available along with all previous episodes of series 2 and all nine of series 1.
HMCTS blog: Preparing for the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
A blog by Kara Gallear looks at how magistrates’ and Crown Courts have prepared for the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 coming into force.
Journal of Law and Society: new website launched
The Journal of Law and Society is pleased to announce the launch of its brand new website. This website was born out of a desire to provide the socio-legal community with a dynamic repository of resources and opportunities, as well as to improve the transparency and accessibility of academic publishing in socio-legal studies. As such, it will feature a range of information, interviews, discussions and public events which are curated through the Journal's close relationship with the Centre of Law and Society, an international research hub for socio-legal studies which also shares its home at Cardiff University. The launch of the website also marks the inauguration of JLS Conversations, a unique and prestigious online space in which socio-legal scholars are exploring ideas and engaging in further debate beyond the Journal; challenging assumptions and pushing the boundaries of socio-legal studies in the ways that JLS authors have been doing for nearly 50 years.
AHRC Blog: Investing in impact
AHRC's Associate Director, Paul Meller, reflects on the AHRC's investment in its first impact acceleration grants. Read the blog on the UKRI website for further details.
AHRC Blog: How AHRC is creating opportunities in law
In this blog Ambreena Manji and Jaideep Gupte set out the AHRC's ambition to create opportunities in law and explain how these will help deliver the AHRC's strategic vision. Read the blog on the UKRI website for further details.
New AHRC Opportunities Blog
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has published the first in a new series of blogs that will share upcoming opportunities with the community.
SAFI Blog: call for contributions
The Editors of the SAFI blog are looking for contribution. They invite contributions from different disciplines which engage with legal theory, legal philosophy, normativity, or reflect on current social and political issues relating to women. They welcome papers, which are philosophically, politically and socially informed as well as contributions reflecting on empirical studies. Please send abstracts (500 words max) or draft manuscripts (1500-3000 words) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Articles can be written in English or German and will be posted on the SAFI website. Calls and information for the SAFI newsletter are also welcome.
Latest from Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies: Ask the Author – David Sugarman
Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies is a blog by the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies welcoming perspectives on methods and cutting-edge research from across the socio-legal field.
Unfreedom of Information in Private Entities: What Can We Do When Vital Research Participants Won't Talk to Us?
In this week’s Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies, Anushka Mittal discusses interviews with former employees as one method to access data when a corporate environment restricts research access. Read the full blog post here, which is published as part of the blog’s Methodological Musings section.
If you would like to receive a summary of all Frontier’s latest posts, sign up to receive the bi-monthly newsletter here.
The blog always welcomes submissions providing analysis of recent socio-legal research, methodological issues, ethical issues, and publications from around the globe: Frontiers can be found at Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies and on Twitter @OxfordCSLS.
Other
Sentencing Council: Chair's statement on the application of sentencing principles during a period when the prison population is very high
This Statement from the Chair was published on 20 March 2023 in response to concerns in relation to the current prison population in England and Wales. See website for full statement.
Law Society’s Parliamentary Briefing for the 2nd Reading of the Illegal Migration Bill
The Law Society's briefing on the Illegal Migration Bill, includes the Law Society's concerns about the Bill's compatibility with the UK's international obligations, how it affects the rule of law and access to justice. See website for details.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service: Monthly Bulletin - March 2023
The latest news is available in the HMCTS Monthly Bulletin.
Sentencing Council: updated sentencing guidelines for offenders convicted of child cruelty offences
The Sentencing Council has published updated sentencing guidelines for offenders convicted of child cruelty offences, including causing or allowing death or serious injury in England and Wales, following consultation. See website for details.
Law Society comment on ‘Illegal Migration’ Bill
The Law Society has responded to Responding to legislation introduced in Parliament to address challenges with the UK’s asylum system. See website for details.
Iran: Law Society calls for halt to executions, release of detainees and fair trials
The Law Society has called on the Iranian Government to stop all executions, uphold the right to a fair trial and halt the arrest, detention, prosecution and ill treatment of lawyers in Iran, who play a vital role in upholding the rule of law and protecting human rights. See website for details.
Sentencing Council: Miscellaneous amendments to sentencing guidelines – response to second annual consultation
The Council has published a response to the second annual consultation on miscellaneous amendments to sentencing guidelines. The response sets out changes that will be made to a number of sentencing guidelines and will come it effect on 1 April 2023. See website for details.
Nuffield Research Report: Separating Families: Experiences of separation and support
A new qualitative research study published by Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and carried out by the University of Bristol explores the experiences of separating families. It includes an analysis of the support families received while going through separation – and highlights that in most cases, parents managed the process without using the family court. See website for details.
Sentencing Council: Sentencing guidelines for underage sale of knives published
The Sentencing Council has published two new guidelines for sentencing retailers convicted of selling knives to children under 18. The new guidelines come into effect on 1 April 2023. See website for details.
National Audit Office: Report on progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme
In 2016, HMCTS launched an ambitious portfolio of reforms later brought together to form the courts and tribunals reform programme. It aims to modernise the justice system by reducing complexity and providing new ways for people to engage. HMCTS intends to achieve this by introducing new technology and working practices, moving activity out of the courtroom, streamlining processes and introducing online services. This is the latest NAO report on this ongoing initiative. See website for details.
Developing a Cost-free Legal Advice Service for Asylum Seekers and Migrants in Brighton and Hove, Ferreira et al: new OA report
See website for details of this new report from the University of Sussex.
AHRC forward look: winter to spring 2023: blogpost
The latest in a series of blogs from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) that will share upcoming opportunities with the community. See website for details.
Bar Council Report: Life at the Employed Bar
Greater visibility, better career progression, and stamping out bullying and harassment are key recommendations in a new report on ‘Life at the Employed Bar’ published by the Bar Council. See press release for further details.
Sentencing Council: Criminal justice statistics produced across government – updated resource
The Council has compiled an updated list of some criminal justice-related publications routinely produced across government, including by the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics. See website for details.
Government publishes Rape Review Progress Report
The update sets out progress made against commitments in the initial action plan published by the Ministry of Justice and Home Office in June 2021. See website for details.
Bar Council Chair, Nick Vineall KC Inaugural Speech
Nick Vineall KC prioritises independence, remuneration, regulation, and diversity at the Bar in the year ahead. See announcement and full text of speech.
Next 100 Years Newsletter
The latest issue of the Next 100 Years Newsletter is now available.
Sentencing Council report: Public Confidence in Sentencing and the Criminal Justice System 2022
This report from the Sentencing Council provides insight into what drives the public’s attitudes to and understanding of the criminal justice system. The research, which follows up on a similar study conducted in 2018, makes a series of recommendations on actions the Council might take to reinforce and improve public confidence. See website for details.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation: latest newsletter
The latest JRF newsletter includes the winter 2022/23 cost-of-living tracker. See website for details.
Race at the Bar: Progress Report, Bar Council
One year on from the ground-breaking Race at the Bar report, the Bar Council has published an interim progress report on action being taken across the Bar to address race inequality. See website for details.
Law Society Press Release: 'Raab's cut to legal aid will bring chaos to criminal justice'
According to the Law Society, 'The justice secretary has completely rejected the advice of the government’s own independent review of the crisis in the criminal justice system by imposing a real-terms cut on legal aid rates for solicitors.' See full press release for details.
Bar Council Bar Council comment on MoJ Criminal Legal Aid response: Press release
Chair of the Bar Mark Fenhalls KC has commented on the Government’s response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review and consultation on policy proposals. See full press release for details.
Next 100 Years: Women Who Will 2022 report
The Women Who Will report is an annual celebration of the achievements and potential of women in law. Download the complete report.
Bar Council Report: Access Denied: The state of the justice system in England and Wales in 2022
Access to justice can’t survive further budget cuts, according to a new report from the Bar Council. See website for the Bar Council's press statement and to download the report.
Law Commission: Confiscation of the Proceeds of Crime after Conviction: A final report
The report contains recommendations which aim to bolster the current system by simplifying the calculation of benefit, improving confiscation enforcement powers, and introducing mechanisms which prevent delay, allowing victims to receive compensation more quickly. It was informed by the detailed responses we to the Commission's 2020 consultation paper. See website for details.
Law Society Press Release on Retained EU Law Bill
'Retained EU Law Bill jeopardises UK legal certainty' says Law Society. See Press Release for details.
Academy of Social Scences: new enhanced Fellows Directory
For the first time, the directory now contains region, discipline and self-defined areas of expertise, as well as job title, organisation and a link to a public website profile. The directory now allows both the Academy and others such as policymakers or media to find subject experts more readily. It will also widen the Acadny's reach and, hopefully, that of Fellows and help advocate more effectively for AcSS Fellows’ expertise. View the directory.
Public Law Project: lastest newsletter
All the latest news and events from the Public Law Project.
Barrister Earnings by Sex and Practice Area – 2022 update, Bar Council Report
The gap between men and women’s earnings at the Bar shows more work to do, according to a new report from the Bar Council. See website for details.
AcSS: latest Policy Monitor
See the summary of latest consultations in the Policy Monitor for March 2023 from the Academy of Social Sciences.
AcSS Latest eBulletin
Catch up with all the latest news from the Academy of Social Sciences with this month's ebulletin.
Sentencing Council: The Effectiveness of Sentencing Options on Reoffending, literature review
The Sentencing Council has published a review that brings together evidence on the effectiveness of different sentencing options on reoffending. See website for details.
Nuffield Foundation Annual Report 2021
The Nuffield Foundation has just published its latest Annual Report, detailing the £28.5 million that it spent on charitable activities during that year.
ADA Lovelace Institute Report: AI liability in Europe: anticipating the EU AI Liability Directive
This report provides legal context and analysis on how liability law could support a more effective legal framework for AI. See website for details.
Judging your Future: latest issue of the Judicial Appointments Commission newsletter
The Judicial Appointments Commission has published its latest Judging Your Future newsletter which includes JAC news and vacancies.
Leverhulme Trust Funding Bulletin
See the latest bulletin for all funding news from the Leverhulme Trust.
Newsletter: Baldy Center, University at Buffalo
Read the spring 2022 edition of the Baldy Center magazine.
AHRC: latest newsletter
The AHRC has published its latest newsletter for June 2022.
Nuffield Foundation: latest newsletter
Download the newsletter for the latest information from the Nuffield Foundation.
JUSTICE: latest newsletter
The latest information about JUSTICE in October 2022.
SAFI: Women's Law and Legal Theory Network: latest newsletter
The January 2022 issue of the SAFI Network Newsletter is now available. For regular SAFI updates, follow the network on Twitter.
SAFESOC latest newsletter
The £1.1m UKRI funded SAFESOC research project aims to reconceptualise prison regulation for safer societies. See the latest newsletter for updates.
Runnymede Trust: latest e-newsletter
The Runnymede Trust has just published it's latest newsletter. See webpage for details.
Foundation for Law, Justice and Society: latest newsletter
The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society's latest newsletter has been published.