The master's tools? : a feminist approach to legal and lay decision-making

It is neither possible, nor desirable, within the confines of this chapter to purport to offer any kind of ‘instruction manual’ for doing feminist legal research. Instead, my aim in the following discussion is to give a brief sketch of key theoretical contributions that feminist analyses have made to our understandings of, and expectations in relation to, law and legal process. Having done so, I explore some of the ways in which feminist methods can be deployed in empirical socio-legal research, and highlight in particular its utility in the context of studying the parameters, content and dilemmas of lay (and quasi-legal) decision-making. As part of this discussion, I also draw attention to some of the tensions that can arise in meeting the demands of access and impact associated with this genre of research whilst preserving the critical and deconstructive spirit of feminism

Shifting sands? consent, context and vulnerability in contemporary sexual offences policy in England and Wales

Though the consent threshold remains fundamental to the demarcation of acceptable from unacceptable forms of behaviour within contemporary sexual offences law and policy, there has clearly been a shift in recent years in England and Wales towards more ‘contextual’ understandings and interpretations thereof. In many respects, this is a welcome development, which has the potential to at least partially redress the problematic assumption of a disembodied, individualistic and self-determining chooser, which critics maintain has underpinned many conventional (liberal) accounts of autonomy. At the same time, however, there are risks associated with this turn to context that require vigilance. More specifically, this shift has opened the door to greater reliance upon the often closely associated concepts of vulnerability and exploitation. In this article, I will argue that, while these concepts can be valuable in highlighting and challenging the constraining conditions under which (sexual) choices may be made, they can also be deployed in the service of moral and political interventions that entrench precariousness in the name of protection and / or increase surveillance in pursuit of responsibilisation. To assess their impact, therefore, it is necessary to explore the concrete implications of this turn for those most immediately involved. In the following discussion, I will do so first by highlighting some of its perhaps unintended, but certainly undesirable, effects in the specific contexts of sexual assault and sex work policy. Having done so, I will move on to explore what we might learn more broadly from this experience about the benefits, blindspots and backfire in using vulnerability as a lens and lever for the pursuit of social justice

The impact of the use of pre-recorded evidence on juror decision-making : an evidence review

The report draws on international evidence from simulated or ‘mock’ jury experiments which are the de facto method for studying jury decision making. The report finds that there is no compelling evidence that the use of pre-recorded evidence or live-links, whether by child or adult witnesses, has an effect on verdict outcomes in (mock) criminal trials. In respect of child witnesses, individual jurors may harbour a preference for evidence delivered live and in person. However, the evidence suggests that this preference does not translate in any consistent or reliable way into (mock) juror verdict outcomes. In respect of adult witnesses, the evidence base is more limited, but a number of robust studies indicate that the use of pre-recorded evidence or live-links by adult female rape complainers does not significantly influence (mock) jurors’ evaluations and verdicts. The position in respect of adults in other trials is less clear, and requires further investigation, but there is not as yet compelling evidence of a verdict impact on (mock) jury decision making. The report highlights a number of operational factors which may influence jurors such as the length and format of forensic interviews, audio and visual quality of evidence, and camera perspective, which, it is suggested, should be considered when using pre-recorded evidence to avoid undue influence upon jurors

Doing Due Diligence on Gender? A Reflection on Davina Cooper’s ‘Taking Responsibility for Gender’

Commentary on Cooper.&nbsp

Constructing Consent: Legislating Freedom and Legitimating Constraint in the Expression of Sexual Autonomy

In the first section, the nature and parameters of the conventional understanding of consent will be examined in more detail and the contemporary challenges that have been lodged against it – particularly from those influenced by structural, post-structural, and communitarian analyses – will be considered. With the terrain of these debates on consent – and related concepts such as autonomy, agency, and self-determination – in place, the second section of this article will focus specifically upon their implications in the context of sexual consent in general, and women’s sexual consent in particular. It will outline the development of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in England and Wales, and will discuss some of the merits and demerits of the approach adopted towards rape as a criminal offence therein. Having done so, discussion in the final part will examine a number of the more fundamental difficulties posed by this legislation’s instigation of a consent threshold that centers upon such theoretically contested, and malleable, concepts as ‘freedom,’ ‘capacity,’ and ‘reasonableness.’ Juxtaposing the presumptions that often lie behind these concepts in conventional liberal accounts with the messy and multi-faceted realities of women’s daily lives, this section will examine the adequacy of the legal response in terms of its ability to both reflect and respond to the experiential patterns of (hetero)sexual initiative

Adding insult to injury? The Criminal Law’s response to domestic abuse-related suicide in England and Wales

Despite evidence suggesting a significant relationship between domestic abuse and suicidality, and notwithstanding the fact that domestic homicides perpetrated by abusive partners are an ongoing priority and source of concern to the criminal justice system, the issue of domestic abuse-related suicide has received strikingly little attention from the state, either in procedures developed for risk assessing and safeguarding victims, in laws designed to protect victims and punish perpetrators, or in Violence Against Women and Girls strategies

A 'special' delivery? Exploring the impact of screens, live-links and video-recorded evidence on mock juror deliberation in rape trials

This article discusses the findings of a study in which 160 volunteer members of the public observed one of four mini rape trial reconstructions and were asked to deliberate as a group towards a verdict. In a context in which research into the substantive content of the deliberations of real jurors is prohibited by the Contempt of Court Act 1981, these discussions were analysed to assess whether, and in what ways, perceptions of adult rape testimony are influenced by different modes of presentation. While lawyers and other observers have speculated about the possible undue effects of alternative trial arrangements on juror perceptions and the evaluation of evidence in rape trials, the issue has received scant empirical attention. In an effort to bridge this knowledge gap, this study investigated the influence upon mock jurors of three special measures currently made available in England and Wales to adult sexual offence complainants by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, namely (1) live-links; (2) video-recorded evidence-in-chief followed by live-link cross-examination and (3) protective screens. Following a careful and contextual exploration of the content of the mock juries’ deliberations, the researchers conclude that there was no clear or consistent impact as a result of these divergent presentation modes, suggesting that concerns over the use of special measures by adult rape complainants (at least in terms of juror influence) may be overstated