Blog

Between 24-28th April 2022, Dr David Scott initiated and led the inaugural ‘Weavers Uprising Remembrance Walk’, a 45 mile walk following in the footsteps of starving handloom weavers in east Lancashire 196 years ago. During this uprising handloom weavers and other working class people attempted to send a symbolic message to government about their precarious living conditions through the destruction of more than 1,100 powerlooms in the local mills. In the first of four short articles, David Scott explains the socio-economic and political context to the 1826 weavers uprising in east Lancashire.

In this blog, Jana Macfarlane-Horn considers the role of medical representations of corporate crime through a critical consideration of the company Amazon. 

The decision making of jurors can be influenced by a number of factors and bias can enter the jury room from a number of different sources. In this weeks blog, Dr Lee John Curley (The Open University), Dr James Munro (The Open University) and Dr Itiel Dror (UCL) discuss potential biases that might influence jurors and they give some recomendations for fighting juror bias. The original article was published in The Conversation and can be found here: https://theconversation.com/juries-are-subject-to-all-kinds-of-biases-w…

In this article, Sharon Hartles reflects upon the events that have unfolded since the publications of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm report and the Department of Health and Social Care, Government response to the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review. She sheds light on the ongoing debacle over the government's pledge in fulfilling their policy recommendations. Sharon Hartles is a member of the Open University’s Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative. 

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 changed the way in which crimes which are thought to have generated financial gain are prosecuted.  As a result, such offences are prosecuted under criminal law as they normally would, with a punishment which is supposed to be proportionate to the gravity of the offence, but this punishment is then followed up with an additional court process which leads to the imposition of a confiscation order based upon the court’s assumed calculation of ‘benefit’, and the subsequent confiscation of any assets within that value. In this article, Craig Fletcher and Becky Clarke begin to expose the lived reality of both the confiscation court process, and how this additional form of punishment is experienced, enabling you to begin to understand the significant gap between confiscation ideology and its lived reality.

This blog post, by Dr Eleni Dimou, is an updated piece from the British Society of Criminology December Newsletter.

In this article, Ben Evans considers the role of artificial intelligence in the courtroom. He compares unexpected research findings with newly published literature to discuss how narrow AI, machine learning systems can produce faster and fairer judgements for communities.

The latest HERC blog comes from Professor Joe Sim of Liverpool John Moores University. 

In this article, Sharon Hartles examines Robbie Powell’s Injustice and in doing so unveils Will and Diane’s (Robbie Powell’s parents) relentless pursuit for truth, justice and accountability. Sharon Hartles is a member of the Open University’s Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative.

In this article, Sharon Hartles examines the UK Government’s response in relation to the implementation of the recommendations set out in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm report. She explores how the Government’s response has impacted on those allegedly harmed by the side effects of Primodos, Mesh and Sodium Valproate. Sharon Hartles is a member of the Open University’s Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative.