Centre for Criminal Law

Our focus includes substantive criminal law, criminal procedure and evidence, the criminal justice system, criminology, and the philosophy and practice of punishment.

About Criminal Law

Criminal law is a major subject of academic and practical importance. This has always been so in England, where the subject has a rich history and occupies a very prominent place in popular awareness of the legal system.

The many questions raised by the use of criminal law as a means of social control continue to engage the attention of scholars in law and many other disciplines, to say nothing of politicians, policymakers, the judiciary, the legal profession and many other groups and individuals. New challenges are presented by the growth in terrorism, organised crime and money-laundering, all of which frequently occur across national boundaries.

In addition, in recent years criminal law studies have taken on a substantial European dimension, by virtue of the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights. The development of international criminal law and its associated tribunal jurisdiction has generated new issues and provided a further stimulus to the ‘globalisation’ of the subject.

A global outlook

As London’s global university UCL has recognised the significance of criminal law and its increasing international dimensions by the establishment of the Centre. The Centre stands alongside the Department of Crime Science, with its broad interdisciplinary focus on crime prevention, and its work similarly addresses including the issue of security in UCL's Grand Challenges research programme.

The Centre's work includes:

• the organisation of courses, conferences, seminars and lectures. The Centre has always had strong links with the legal profession. It is outward facing in all its activities and has a strong reputation for hosting events on topical, practical issues and attracting high calibre speakers from the professions and the judiciary.
• the preparation of responses to Government legislative proposals, Law Commission consultation papers, and other law reform proposals
• the building of networks of contacts with government departments, the judiciary, the criminal Bar, solicitors’ firms, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Prison Service and other institutions and groups with interests in criminal justice
• co-operation with other universities with special interests in criminal law subjects, with a view to developing programmes of visits, staff exchanges, and collaborative research; increasing the profile of criminal law studies at UCL with the aim of attracting greater numbers of LLM and PhD students
• promoting cross-disciplinarity in the study of the criminal law. The emphasis on cross-disciplinarity has been evident in many of the Centre’s activities - members bring a wide range of research perspectives to include doctrinal law, theory, criminological and empirical research.

Our sponsors

The Centre for Criminal Law is sponsored by Kingsley Napley, an internationally recognised law firm.

The firm was founded in 1937 by David Napley and Sidney Kingsley both of whom became well known and respected solicitors in their fields of practise. The firm is well known for criminal litigation, business crime and public law, and also has an excellent reputation for clinical negligence, family, business immigration and real estate.

The firm has acted in some very significant and high profile cases, including representing

• Jeremy Thorpe
• Rebekah and Charlie Brooks
• Rolf Harris
• Tesco Plc
• Kate and Gerry McCann
• Three former Prime Ministers (in public inquiries)

Many of its lawyers are leaders in their field. The firm is recognised in the leading legal directories, including Chambers & Partners (A Client’s Guide to the Legal Profession) where we are listed as, “absolutely top-class” and having an “established reputation for quality.”