Criminal Justice Centre Research

The strength of expertise at Queen Mary, University of London is demonstrated by recent research, publications and other activities of the members, including:

Leonidas Cheliotis
Kate Malleson
Seán McConville
Valsamis Mitsilegas
Richard Nobles and David Schiff
David Ormerod

Dr Leonidas Cheliotis

Leonidas Cheliotis is Lecturer in Criminology at the School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London.

Focusing both on the Anglo-American world and the Mediterranean, particularly Greece, his main research interests span the political economy of crime and crime control policies; crime, criminal justice, and the mass media; discrimination against minorities in the criminal justice system; the development and sociopolitical functions of criminology; and occupational culture and behaviour in criminal justice settings. He has also been, and continues to be, involved in the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of offender reintegration/rehabilitation schemes (e.g., temporary release, prison-based art therapy). More theoretical interests include the sociology, psychoanalysis, and philosophy of crime and punishment, as well the dialectics of power and resistance.

His research has recently appeared, or is forthcoming, in such outlets as the peer-reviewed journals Punishment & Society; Criminology & Criminal Justice; The British Journal of Criminology; Aggression & Violent Behaviour; the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology; the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry; Crime, Media, Culture; and Law & Critique. Current publication projects include, amongst others, five book projects:

Law and Order in the Margins of Europe: A Political Economy of Othering (monograph, in progress)
Law and Order in the Margins of Europe is an original contribution to the understanding of punitive public attitudes in capitalist societies. Weaving together concepts, methods, and data from anthropology, history, sociology, political science, psychoanalysis, and criminology, the aim is to trace the ways in which public punitiveness against particular minorities may reflect the manipulation by state elites of instinctual vicissitudes under conditions of capitalism. The setting for this exploration is Greece–an unduly understudied jurisdiction with its own intriguing history of capitalist penality.
Ναρκισσισμός, Κυριάρχηση και Ουμανιστική Αντίσταση: Μια Θεώρηση του Έριχ Φρομ [Narcissism, Domination and Humanist Resistance: A Frommian Perspective] (monograph, Greek translation in progress)
Crime and Punishment in Contemporary Greece: International Comparative Perspectives (Co-editor with Sappho Xenakis) (2 vols.) (forthcoming, Oxford: Peter Lang AG, 2010 - The book, in English, constitutes the most comprehensive and authoritative single work on crime and its control in contemporary Greece. Bringing together the most up-to-date, high-quality empirical and theoretical work, it sheds critical light on such diverse themes as the political economy of law and order; fear of crime and crime rates; media, crime, and criminal justice; youth and crime; minorities, crime, and criminal justice; corruption; organised crime and political violence; surveillance; sex trafficking; drugs, crime, and criminal justice; honour, violence, and crime; the impact of the EU on criminal justice; policing and social control; youth justice and probation; the adult judicial system; prisons and parole. Written by leading specialists, primary chapters are followed by discussant pieces from internationally recognised non-Greek generalists, a format that highlights the wider relevance of cutting-edge Greek criminological research to international audiences.
The Arts of Imprisonment: Control, Resistance and Empowerment(Sole editor) (forthcoming, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010). The arts offer an alternative lens through which to dissect imprisonment. Integrating a variety of cross-disciplinary theoretical traditions with the highest-quality empirical research conducted on both sides of the Atlantic, this collection probes three main areas: how state authorities may deploy artistic presentations and representations of the world of prisons to solidify domination over subordinates, prisoners or otherwise; the use of the arts, both inside and outside prisons, as a means of challenging or coping with the inherently harsh prison system and the broader project of domination it reflects and serves; and the evaluation research on the implementation and effectiveness of arts-related programmes in prisons.
Roots, Rites and Sites of Resistance: The Banality of Good (Sole editor) (forthcoming, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). Whilst the condition of a damaged ethical life has received due scholarly attention to date, only rarely is resistance to it conceived as an actual possibility with the potential of real effects on a macro-social scale. This is not just a curious lacuna in the literature. To ignore or miss concrete possibilities or even instances of resistance is to reinforce the apparent naturalness and inevitability of structures of injustice. The aim of this edited collection is to help address this epistemological neglect, exploring the multiplicity of motives, presuppositions, sites, ways, and consequences of acts of resistance. As shown in the ensuing contributions, resistance can be recalcitrant or transformative in its aims, discursive or physical in its means, and local or generalized in its loci. If there is a single argument that can be distilled, it is that the emergence of progressive resistance entails the incessant rational critique of so-styled ‘common sense’ and prevalent ethical claims–a process which could be called ‘the banality of good’.

Professor Kate Malleson

Kate Malleson is completing a book to be published by Oxford University Press entitled Selecting International Judges: Principles, Process and Politics. The work examines the selection processes of the international courts, focusing on the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. It is jointly authored with Philippe Sands, Ruth Mackenzie and Penny Martin from UCL and is the result of a three year AHRC funded project carried out jointly by the School of Law at QM and the Centre for International Courts and Tribunals at UCL.

The research examines the way international court judges are chosen in the light of growing criticism that the current practices encourage the appointment of ‘government hacks and lickspittles’. The research was based on interviews, case studies and survey data in a range of different states. It found that although there is a wide variation in the nature and quality of nomination and election processes, a common feature running through the systems are that they are strongly influenced by domestic and international political considerations and controlled by a small group of diplomats, civil servants, lawyers and academics. The processes adopted generally lack transparency and allow for considerations to be introduced into the decision-making process that may detract from the selection of the most highly qualified candidates. The research found that election campaigning has become a key factor in the process requiring the investment of considerable time and resources by states and individual candidates. Equally important is the widespread practice of vote trading and reciprocal agreements between states. The effect of these practices is to weight the outcome of elections in favour of candidates from powerful states.

A number of proposals for change are put forward in the book. First, states should ensure that their nomination processes are independent, transparent and merit-based. They should provide more and better quality information about candidates prior to the election. While a one-size-fits-all process for nominating candidates would be inappropriate, good practice should be shared by states and minimum standards on issues such as advertising and consultation should be agreed and adhered to. In relation to the elections, campaigning should be moderated and should focus on the qualities and experiences of the candidates; vote-trading and reciprocal agreements between states and regions should be discouraged.

Kate Malleson is currently supervising PhD work by James Barry.

Professor Seán McConville

Seán McConville has for some thirty years been working on a history of punishment and has currently reached volumes four and five in the series. These will be published by Routledge in 2010 and respectively deal with Irish political prisoners 1920 - 1962 and 1966 -2000. Following this he will round off the series with a sixth volume, dealing with punishment in England in the twentieth century.

In addition to these core volumes Seán McConville has published books on prison arcitecture and also on Islamic criminal law and procedure.

He has edited and contributed to six volumes of collected essays on punishment and has published many journal, newspaper and magazine articles. He has been a prolific broadcaster. He has written official and legislative reports on both sides of the Atlantic and has advised a number of governments and the Council of Europe.

He sits as a Justice of the Peace for Inner London.

Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas

Valsamis Mitsilegas holds a Chair in European Criminal Law at Queen Mary, University of London. From 2001 to 2005 he was legal adviser to the House of Lords European Union Committee. His interests and expertise lie primarily in the area of EU Justice and Home Affairs (including immigration, asylum and border controls, criminal law, police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters and the external dimension of EU action in these fields). Professor Mitsilegas is also an expert in the field of national and international legal responses to transnational organised crime, money laundering and terrorism. He is currently supervising five postgraduate students in the field of EU criminal law (topics include the impact of EU criminal law on domestic legal orders; mutual recognition and sovereignty; fairness in criminal procedures in Europe; the EU anti-fraud strategy; and the protection of the rights of the defendant in the area of freedom, security and justice). His most recent book is EU Criminal Law (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2009).

Professor Mitsilegas is a regular consultant to parliaments, EU institutions and international organisations. He is acting as expert adviser to the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). He was Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee for their inquiry on European Union Justice and Home Affairs issues [pdf] and to the House of Lords European Union Committee for their inquiry on the European Borders Agency (FRONTEX report [pdf]). More recently, Professor Mitsilegas was invited to submit evidence on the Lisbon Treaty to the House of Lords Committees on the Constitution European Union (Amendment) Bill and the Lisbon Treaty: Implications for the UK Constitution [pdf] (6th Report, session 2007-08, HL Paper 84) and the European Union (The Treaty of Lisbon: An Impact Assessment [pdf], 10th Report, session 2007-08, HL Papers 62-I and 62-II). In April 2009, he gave oral evidence to the House of Lords EU Committee for their inquiry on Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism [pdf] (19th Report, session 2008-09, HL Papers 132-I and 132-II).

Professor Mitsilegas is also active with NGOs, think tanks and academic networks aiming to shape European and domestic law and policy on immigration and crime. He is a member of the Management Committee of the European Criminal Law Academic Network (ECLAN), a Europe-wide network which has undertaken a number of EU-funded projects in the field of EU criminal justice. These include a wide-ranging and influential study on the future of mutual recognition in criminal matters in the European Union. Professor Mitsilegas represented ECLAN at the launch of the EU Justice Forum in May 2008. The Forum was set up by the European Commission as a permanent mechanism for consulting stakeholders, receiving feedback and reviewing EU justice policies.

Professor Richard Nobles and Professor David Schiff

Richard Nobles and David Schiff have undertaken substantial pieces of research over the last 20 years into miscarriages of justice and criminal appeals. Recent writing includes:

‘Public Confidence in Criminal Justice: The Lessons from Miscarriages of Justice’ 48 The Howard Journal (Dec 2009) 461;
‘The Criminal Cases Review Commission after 10 years: an investment in justice?’ in M. Naughton (ed.) The Criminal Cases Review Commission: Hope for the Innocent (Palgrave MacMillan, Nov 2009);
‘Absurd Asymmetry - a Comment on R v Cottrell and Fletcher and BM, KK and DP (Petitioners) v Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission’ (2008) 71 Modern Law Review 464

For a full list of publications since 2000, see their profile pages on the School of Law website.

Their current work is focused on the interface between law and the media, and involves a study of media reporting of the first 10 years operation of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. In addition, they comment on cases and legislative amendments that have significant implications for criminal appeals.

Having published a book ‘A Sociology of Jurisprudence’ in 2006, which applied modern systems theory to jurisprudence and legal theory, they are now involved in research preparing a complementary book on the application of modern systems theory to the understanding of many theoretical issues in law, including the nature of judicial reasoning, the development of rights, the problem of retrospective laws, the legal response to civil disobedience. In undertaking this research they often utilize examples from criminal justice. For example, one of the chapters, that dealing with civil disobedience, involves a case study of the recent House of Lords decision in Debbie Purdy’s application against the DPP.

Richard and David welcome PhD applications researching into any aspect of criminal appeals and miscarriages of justice.

Professor David Ormerod

David Ormerod has recently completed the 10th edition of Smith and Hogan Criminal Law Cases and Materials (2009, OUP), to accompany his 12th edition of Smith and Hogan Criminal Law (2008, OUP). His recent co-edited work with Clare Montgomery QC (Fraud: Criminal Law and Procedure (2008, OUP) has been described by the DPP as “outstanding” and by a senior judge as being “the best book on fraud I have ever read.”

In recent months David has been assisting the Judicial Studies Board in the preparation of new Specimen Directions for the Crown Court Benchbook. His current research includes that on the admissibility evidence from social networking websites and on prosecution appeals on which he recently lecture to a delegation of the senior Judiciary from the People’s Republic of China (insert link to photo provided).

He is the Editor in Chief, Blackstone’s Criminal Practice (with Rt Hon Hooper LJ); editor of the Cases and Comments section of the leading criminal justice journal in England and Wales, the Criminal Law Review and an editorial board member of the International Journal of Evidence & Proof, Covert Policing Review and the International Journal of Investigative Psychology.

David is a member of the national Criminal Justice Council, lectures regularly to the judiciary and the legal profession and is a practicing barrister at 18 Red Lion Court.