Adversarialism, Participation and Voice in the Criminal Process:

Thursday 22nd June – Friday 23rd June 2023
Analog Devices Building, University of Limerick, Ireland
 

This conference will provide a forum for academics and practitioners to share their understandings and experiences of witness participation and ‘voice’ within the context of an adversarial criminal justice system. Key themes will include the identification of vulnerable people, the ways in which their cases are handled and managed, the level of support available to them, and how they are questioned at both the investigative and trial stages of the criminal process. Although negative experiences of children, people with learning disabilities, and witnesses in cases of sexual violence have been highlighted by researchers for several decades, legal systems have sought to improve the experience of vulnerable groups against the backdrop of the emergence of a ‘right to effective participation’ under Article 6 ECHR, as well as increasing international consensus around the desirability of ‘best evidence’.

The event forms part of Mapping the Changing Face of Cross Examination, a cross-institutional Nottingham Trent and University of Nottingham research project funded by the Nuffield Foundation and hosted by the School of Law at the University of Limerick.Keynote speakers include Lord Beckett (Supreme Court, Scotland), Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh (Court of Appeal, Ireland), Justice Paul McDermott (High Court, Ireland), HHJ Sarah Whitehouse KC (Circuit Judge, England), and a representative from Northern Ireland.

Although the project focuses on the changing nature of advocacy in the UK and Ireland, the organisers welcome papers on both national and international perspectives touching on the themes of voice and participation at various stages of the criminal process.

Proposal for papers, as well as proposals for panels, are welcome from academics at all career stages as well as practitioners working within the criminal justice system. Titles and abstracts should be submitted to nisan.alici@ntu.ac.uk by Friday, 19 May 2023, with decisions being communicated by the organising committee by the end of May.

For further information please contact nisan.alici@ntu.ac.uk