| Unit name | Miscarriages of Justice? |
|---|---|
| Unit code | LAWDM0073 |
| Credit points | 30 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Naughton |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | University of Bristol Law School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
What, precisely, is a miscarriage of justice? How are they caused? How big is the miscarriage of justice 'iceberg'? What are the consequences? How are they redressed? What lessons, if any, are to be learnt? How might these lessons be fed back into the criminal justice system to reduce the possibility of miscarriages of justice in the future? These are the kind of questions explored by this unit. It applies a socio-legal approach to emphasise how dominant discourses fail to distinguish the full scale of the miscarriage of justice problem and how they vastly underestimate the harmful consequences that wrongful convictions engender. It questions the adequacy of the Prison Service and Parole Board to deal with victims of miscarriages of justice who, inevitably, come their way. It highlights the limits of attempts to remedy miscarriages of justice.
