Directory of experts

Professor Susan Edwards

Job title: Dean of Law; Professor of Law; Co-Director of the Centre for Multi-Cultural Studies in Law and the Family

Department: Law

Areas of expertise:

criminal law
child law
gender, policing and sex
international women's human rights

Further details: Susan Edwards is a researcher and campaigner, with degrees in both law and social sciences, and a barrister. She has been actively involved in legal issues affecting women for many years. She is author of four books, an edited collection and co-author of a textbook, and has written opinion pages on the law for The Times, The Guardian and The Age (Australia). She:

is a Door Tenant, Clarendon Chambers, Temple, London.
is an expert witness and an individual member of the Expert Witness Institute (EWI) and has provided expert reports on the effects of domestic violence in both family and criminal proceedings.
is a practising barrister in crime, family and civil.
is a member of the Bar Human Rights Group.
is a prison visitor.
is on the Editorial Board of three journals and Editor of the Denning Law Journal.
was formerly Adviser on Domestic Violence for the Council of Europe (2003).
was formerly Adviser, consultant and trainer for the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (2003).
was formerly Consultant on Expert Witnesses for the Crown Prosecution Service (2002).
was formerly Project Developer for the Home Office as part of their Violence Against Women Initiative 2000.
was responsible for shaping directions in Home Office funding for projects under the Violence Against Women Initiative (www.homeoffice.gov uk - external link).
was Director of Research for the Pornography and Violence Research Trust (1992-2002).
was on the Management Committee of CAST (an organisation for education and training of ex-offenders, 1992-).
has conducted research for Hammersmith and Fulham Council (1997 and 2002).
has conducted research for Barnardos (1998).
has been a Visiting Fellow at the Law School Australian National University (2000).
was Consultant to the Metropolitan Police on Domestic Violence (1991-93, 1984).
received research grants from Nuffield -1987 / Police Foundation - 1988 / Home Office Police Research Awards Scheme - 1989 / Safer Cities Home Office - 1991 / Pornography and Violence Research Trust - 1992-2002.
was awarded a PhD from the University of Manchester in 1979. Her thesis explored the development of the Law of Rape.
published her first book Female Sexuality and the Law' (Oxford: Martin Robertson, Law in Society Series, 1981).

Her last sole-authored book was Sex and Gender in the Legal Process (1996) and she is currently writing on gender, ethnicity, human rights and the criminal law. Recent publications include:

"Justice Devlin's legacy: Duffy - a battered woman 'caught' in time", Criminal Law Review 2009.12, 851-869.
Read more about this article in our Publication of the week section (21 December 2009)
"Child protection: trapped in the middle of the edge", Family Law 39 (March 2009), 220-225.
Read more about this article in our Publication of the week section (March 2009)
"The self-incrimination privilege in care proceedings and the criminal trial and 'shall not be admissible in evidence' ", Journal of Criminal Law (2009) 73 JCL 48-68.
Read more about this article in our Publication of the week section (February 2009)
"A gap in the ring fence?", New Law Journal 158, Issue 7303 (11 January 2008), 51-54.
Read more about this article in our Publication of the week section (February 2008)
"Shenfield, Barbara", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online, January 2008.
Read more about this in our news article: "A woman of indomitable spirit"
"Descent into murder - provocation's stricture - the prognosis for women who kill men who abuse them", Journal of Criminal Law 71.4 (August 2007), 342-361.
Read more about this article in our Publication of the week section (August 2007)
"Imagining Islam … of meaning and metaphor symbolising the jilbab - R (Begum) v Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School", Child & Family Law Quarterly 19.2 (June 2007), 247-268.
Read more about this article in our Publication of the week section (July 2007)
"Disclosure: sacrificing the privilege of self-incrimination for the greater good of child protection?", Family Law 37 (2007), 510-516.
Read more about this article in our Publication of the week section (June 2007)
Family law (with Mary Welstead), Oxford University Press Core Texts Series, March 2006. 2nd ed. 2008.
Read more about this article in our Publication of the week section (July 2008)
Sealing one’s own fate - disclosure of documents in care proceedings - on the trail to the abrogation of a fair trial. Child and Family Law Quarterly 16.2, April 2005.
"Kicked, beaten, jumped on until they are crushed," all under man's wing and protection: the Victorian dilemma with domestic violence. Criminal Conversations, ed. J. Rowbotham & K. Stevenson (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2005), pp.247-266.
Division of assets and fairness - "Brick Lane" - gender, culture and ancillary relief on divorce. Family Law , November 2004, pp. 809 -814.
Abolishing provocation and reframing self-defence - the Law Commission’s options for reform . The Criminal Law Review, March 2004, pp. 181-197 .
(full text (105 KB) - this article was first published in the March 2004 issue of Criminal Law Review , published by Sweet & Maxwell.)
Injustice that puts a low price on a woman's life. The Times , Tuesday 2nd September 2003.
Perjury and perverting the course of justice considered. The Criminal Law Review, August 2003, pp. 525-540 .
(full text (180 KB) - this article was first published in the August 2003 issue of Criminal Law Review , published by Sweet & Maxwell.)
Absolution - the power of parole. The Times , Tuesday 24th June 2003.
Discourses of denial and moral panics: the pornographisation of the child in art, the written word, film and photograph. Behaving Badly. Social Panic and Moral Outrage - Victorian and Modern Parallels , ed. J. Rowbotham & K. Stevenson (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 177-191.

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