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Vanessa Munro

Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Expertise Summary

Vanessa Munro studied for both her LLB and PhD at the University of Glasgow, and was named 'Young Alumnus of the Year' by that institution in 2007.

She is author of Law and Politics at the Perimeter: Re-Evaluating Key Debates in Feminist Theory (Hart, 2007), and co-editor of Sexuality and the Law: Feminist Engagements (with C. Stychin, Routledge-Cavendish, 2007), Demanding Sex: Critical Reflections on the Regulation of Prostitution (with M. Della Giusta, Ashgate, 2008), and Rethinking Rape Law: International and Comparative Perspectives (with C. McGlynn, Routledge-Cavendish, 2010).

With funding from the Nuffield Foundation, Vanessa has conducted a comparative study of legal responses to sex trafficking; and in 2006, she was appointed as a Special Advisor to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into Human Trafficking. She has also co-convened an inter-disciplinary expert group on supply / demand dynamics in prostitution (funded by the British Academy and ESRC).

With funding from the ESRC, Vanessa has completed two major studies exploring juror deliberation in rape cases - the first (with E. Finch) focussed on the influence of complainant intoxication on assessments of consent, while the second (with L. Ellison) examined the impact of expert evidence on evaluations of complainant credibility.

Vanessa is now conducting a third, ESRC funded study (with L. Ellison), exploring the impact on (mock) jurors of the use of 'special measures' in relation to the testimony of adult, female rape complainants. In addition, she is currently conducting a Nuffield Foundation funded study (with S. Cowan and H. Baillot), which explores adjudicators' assessments of credibility in female asylum cases that involve an allegation of rape.

Vanessa has been a visiting speaker at various UK and International institutions, including the Australian National University, University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, University of North Carolina and the New Zealand Ministry of Justice. She has presented at training sessions organised by, amongst others, Rape Crisis, the Metropolitan Police, the Judicial Studies Board and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She was invited to give evidence to the Commission on Women & the Criminal Justice System, headed by Baroness Corston, in 2009. She has been a member of an Expert Group on Sexual Offences Reform (headed by the Solicitor General), and was a founding member of the Sexual Offences Research Initiative (funded by the British Psychological Society).

Vanessa is an Associate Editor of the New Criminal Law Review, a member of the Editorial Board of Social and Legal Studies, and a member of the Socio-Legal Studies Association Executive Committee. She also previously sat on the Steering Group of the Legal Empirical Research Support Network (LERSNet).

In 2010, Vanessa was awarded a Phillip Leverulme Prize from The Leverhulme Trust in recognition of her research achievements to date.

At undergraduate level, Vanessa teaches in the areas of Criminal Law, Criminal Justice and Legal Theory. At postgraduate level, she convenes LLM modules on 'Contemporary Criminal Justice Policy' and 'Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice'. She has also been involved in the teaching of Legal Research Methods.

Vanessa has considerable experience of conducting, and supervising, research involving a range of different socio-legal methods, and she particularly welcomes applications from students interested in conducting PhD research in the areas of Law & Gender, Legal Theory, or Criminal Justice.

Recent Publications

  • MUNRO, V. and SHAH, S., 2010. R v Dhaliwal. In: HUNTER, R., MCGLYNN, C. and RACKLEY, E, eds., Feminist Judgments: From Theory to Practice Oxford: Hart Publishing. 261-272
  • ELLISON, L and MUNRO, V.E., 2010. Jury Deliberation and Complainant Credibility in Rape Trials. In: MCGLYNN, C. and MUNRO, V.E., eds., Rethinking Rape Law: International and Comparative Perspectives Ashgate. 281-293
  • ELLISON, L and MUNRO, V.E., 2010. Getting to (Not) Guilty: Examining Jurors’ Deliberative Processes in, and Beyond, the Context of a Mock Rape Trial Legal Studies. 30(1), 74 - 97
  • MUNRO, V.E., 2010. From Consent to Coercion: Evaluating International and Domestic Frameworks for the Criminalisation of Rape. In: MCGLYNN, C. and MUNRO, V.E., eds., Rethinking Rape Law: International and Comparative Perspectives Ashgate. 17-29

PhD Supervision

Vanessa has considerable experience of conducting, and supervising, research involving a range of different socio-legal methods, and she particularly welcomes applications from students interested in conducting PhD research in the areas of

  • Law & Gender
  • Legal Theory
  • Criminal Justice, and more particularly;

  • Feminist / Critical Legal Theory

  • Sexual Offences and Offending

  • Gender & Criminal Justice

  • Jury Processes and Decision-Making

Current PhD Students

  • MUNRO, V. and SHAH, S., 2010. R v Dhaliwal. In: HUNTER, R., MCGLYNN, C. and RACKLEY, E, eds., Feminist Judgments: From Theory to Practice Oxford: Hart Publishing. 261-272
  • ELLISON, L and MUNRO, V.E., 2010. Jury Deliberation and Complainant Credibility in Rape Trials. In: MCGLYNN, C. and MUNRO, V.E., eds., Rethinking Rape Law: International and Comparative Perspectives Ashgate. 281-293
  • ELLISON, L and MUNRO, V.E., 2010. Getting to (Not) Guilty: Examining Jurors’ Deliberative Processes in, and Beyond, the Context of a Mock Rape Trial Legal Studies. 30(1), 74 - 97
  • MUNRO, V.E., 2010. From Consent to Coercion: Evaluating International and Domestic Frameworks for the Criminalisation of Rape. In: MCGLYNN, C. and MUNRO, V.E., eds., Rethinking Rape Law: International and Comparative Perspectives Ashgate. 17-29
  • ELLISON, L and MUNRO, V.E., 2010. A Stranger in the Bushes or an Elephant in the Room?: Critical Reflections on Received Rape Myth Wisdom in the Context of a Mock Jury Study New Criminal Law Review. 13(4), 781-801
  • MCGLYNN, C. and MUNRO, V.E., eds., 2010. Rethinking Rape Law: International and Comparative Perspectives London: Routledge-Cavendish.
  • MUNRO, V.E., 2010. An Unholy Trinity? Non-Consent, Coercion and Exploitation in Contemporary Legal Responses to Sexual Violence in England & Wales. In: LESTAS, G. & O'CINNEIDE, C., ed., Current Legal Problems Oxford University Press. 45-71
  • ELLISON, L and MUNRO, V.E., 2009. Turning Mirrors into Windows? Assessing the Impact of (Mock) Juror Education in Rape Trials British Journal of Criminology. 49(3), 363-383
  • ELLISON, L and MUNRO, V.E., 2009. 'Of ‘Normal Sex’ and ‘Real Rape’: Exploring the Use of Socio-Sexual Scripts in (Mock) Jury Deliberation’ Social and Legal Studies. 18(3), 1-22
  • ELLISON, L. and MUNRO, V.E., 2009. Reacting to Rape: Exploring Mock Jurors’ Assessments of Complainant Credibility British Journal of Criminology. 49(2), 202 - 219
  • BAILLOT, H and COWAN, S. & MUNRO, V.E., 2009. 'Seen but not Heard? Parallels and Dissonances in the Treatment of Rape Narratives across the Asylum and Criminal Justice Contexts' Journal of Law & Society. 36(2), 195 - 219
  • MUNRO, V.E. and KELLY, L., 2009. ‘A Vicious Cycle?: Attrition and Conviction Patterns in Contemporary Rape Cases in England and Wales’. In: BROWN, J. and HORVATH, M., eds., Rape: Challenging Contemporary Thinking Willan Publishing. 281–300
  • MUNRO, V., 2008. Exploring Exploitation: Trafficking in Sex, Work and Sex Work. In: MUNRO, V and DELLA GIUSTA, M., eds., Demanding Sex: Critical Reflections on the Regulation of Prostitution Ashgate. 83-99
  • FINCH, E. & MUNRO, V.E., 2008. Lifting the Veil? The Use of Focus Groups and Trial Simulations in Legal Research Journal of Law and Society. 35, 30-51
  • MUNRO, V., 2008. Constructing Consent: Legislating Freedom and Legitimating Constraint in the Expression of Sexual Autonomy Akron Law Review. 41(4), 923-956
  • MUNRO, V. and DELLA GIUSTA, M., eds., 2008. Demanding Sex: Critical Reflections on the Regulation of Prostitution Ashgate.
  • MUNRO, V.E., 2008. Of Rights and Rhetoric: Discourses of Degradation and Exploitation in the Context of Sex Trafficking Journal of Law and Society. 35(2), 240-264
  • MUNRO, V., 2007. Law and politics at the perimeter: re-evaluating key debates in feminist theory Oxford: Hart Publishing.
  • MUNRO, V.E., 2007. Dev'l-in Disguise? Harm, Privacy and the Sexual Offences Act 2003. In: MUNRO, V.E. and STYCHIN, C.F., eds., Sexuality and the Law: Feminist Engagements London: Routledge-Cavendish. 1-18
  • MUNRO, V and STYCHIN, C., eds., 2007. Sexuality and the Law: Feminist Engagements London: Routledge-Cavendish.
  • MUNRO, V and FINCH, E., 2007. The Demon Drink and The Demonised Woman: Socio-Sexual Stereotypes and Responsibility Attribution in Rape Trials Involving Intoxicants Social and Legal Studies. 16(4), 591-614
  • MUNRO, V. E., 2007. On responsible relationships and irresponsible sex - criminalising the reckless transmission of HIV R v Dica and R v Konzani CHILD AND FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY. VOL 19(NUMB 1), 112-125
  • MUNRO, V. and FINCH, E., 2006. Breaking boundaries?: sexual consent in the jury room Legal Studies. 26(3), 303-320
  • MUNRO, V., 2006. Stopping traffic?: a comparative study of responses to the trafficking in women for prostitution British Journal of Criminology. 46(2), 318-333
  • MUNRO, V.E., 2005. Concerning consent: standards of permissibility in sexual relations Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 25(2), 335-352
  • MUNRO, V. E., 2005. A Tale of Two Servitudes: Defining and Implementing a Domestic Response to Trafficking of Women for Prostitution in the UK and Australia SOCIAL AND LEGAL STUDIES. VOL 14(NUMB 1), 91-114
  • FINCH, E. and MUNRO, V. E., 2005. Of Bodies, Boundaries and Borders: Intoxicated Sexual Consent under the Law of Scotland and England JURIDICAL REVIEW. PART 1, 53-72
  • MUNRO, V. E., 2005. Turning rights from the outside in: re-visiting the politics of separation in prison mother and baby units: CF v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Another CHILD AND FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY. VOL 17(NUMB 4), 545-554
  • FINCH, E. and MUNRO, V. E., 2005. Juror Stereotypes and Blame Attribution in Rape Cases Involving Intoxicants BRITISH JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY. VOL 45(NUMBER 1), 25-38
  • FINCH, E. and MUNRO, V. E., 2004. The Sexual Offences Act 2003: (5) Intoxicated Consent and Drug Assisted Rape Revisited CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW -LONDON-. YEAR 2004(OCT), 789-802
  • MUNRO, V., 2003. On power and domination: feminism and the final Foucault European Journal of Political Theory. 2(1), 79 - 99
  • FINCH, E. and MUNRO, V. E., 2003. Intoxicated Consent and the Boundaries of Drug-assisted Rape CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW -LONDON-. NOV, 773-787
  • MUNRO, V., 2003. The Discipline of Law: Legal Education at the Intersection of the Juridical and the Disciplinary Journal of Commonwealth Law and Legal Education. 2(1), 31-47
  • MUNRO, V. E., 2002. The emerging rights of imprisoned mothers and their children CHILD AND FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY. VOL 14(PART 3), 303-314
  • MUNRO, V. E., 2001. Legal Feminism and Foucault - A Critique of the Expulsion of Law JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY -OXFORD-. VOL 28(PART 4), 546-567
  • MUNRO, V. E., 2001. Surrogacy and the Construction of the Maternal-Foetal Relationship: The Feminist Dilemma Examined RES PUBLICA -LIVERPOOL-. VOL 7(PART 1), 13-37
  • MUNRO, V. E., 2001. Square Pegs in Round Holes: The Dilemma of Conjoined Twins and Individual Rights SOCIAL AND LEGAL STUDIES. VOL 10(PART 4), 459-482

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