Speakers: Professor Vanessa Munro (University of Warwick) and Professor Miranda Horvath (University of Suffolk)

Professors Munro and Horvath both actively contributed to Operation Soteria, the joint project between the police and CPS to rethink how allegations of sexual violence should be investigated and prosecuted. In this public lecture they will reflect together on the data they collected and the findings concerning reasons for underperformance, myths and stereotypes affecting charging decisions and the treatment of complainants. They will conclude by reflecting on the prospects for sustainable improvement post-Soteria. There will be opportunities for the audience to ask questions at the end.

For more information see: https://www.cccj.law.cam.ac.uk/past-events-0

Speaker: Professor Kent Roach, Professor of Law, University of Toronto

This talk defined the distinct but overlapping concepts of miscarriages of justice, wrongful convictions and proven innocence. The three distinct and overlapping concepts are analysed as what Guido Calabresi and Philip Bobbitt have called a 'tragic choice' approach to allocating scarce resources.

For more information about the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice (CCCJ) see: https://www.cccj.law.cam.ac.uk/

An event in honour of Professor Emeritus Nicky Padfield.

On 27 March 2023 the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice held a workshop in honour of Nicky Padfield entitled 'Criminal Justice Conversations: Experiencing and Researching Criminal Justice'.

In September 2022, Professor Nicky Padfield formally retired from the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. She has left an indelible mark, as a leading criminologist and criminal justice scholar, and former Recorder. Whilst best known for her work in sentencing, prisons and, recently, on the Parole Board, she has shown an unparalleled flexibility in teaching and research, much of which went beyond academic audiences.

This workshop, kindly supported by the Yorke Fund, will celebrate Nicky’s career and enable participants to reflect upon themes which were prevalent in her research, such as managerialism and accountability within (criminal justice) public services, and fairness and proportionality in sentencing, parole and recalls to prison. Participants will consider the gains to be made for researchers in having conversations with those who act within the criminal justice system and (too often overlooked) those who are at the receiving end of state power, and how such gains in understanding their everyday experiences may be reflected in research outputs and policy documents.

Programme of recordings:

- Introduction (Dr Findlay Stark, Co-Director of CCCJ, University of Cambridge); 'Telling it like it is, a talk in honour of Nicky Padfield' (Prof Em Loraine Gelsthorpe, University of Cambridge) (https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/4226608)

- 'Talking about private prosecutions' (Dr Jonathan Rogers, University of Cambridge) (https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/4226623)

- 'Some thoughts on parole' (Prof Em Sir Anthony Bottoms, University of Cambridge) (https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/4226638)

- 'Reflections on Criminal Justice Conversations' (Prof Em Nicky Padfield, University of Cambridge) (https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/4226653)