Contact
Biography
Dr Matt Thomason joined the School of Law as Assistant Professor in Law in August 2020.
Matt completed his LLB and LLM (Criminal Justice) at the University of Nottingham in 2011-14 and 2014-15 respectively. In 2015, Matt was awarded a 1+3 scholarship by the Economic and Social Research Council in order to undertake his MA (Socio-Legal and Criminological Research Methods) in 2015-16 and PhD in 2016-20, also at the University of Nottingham. His doctoral thesis examined the uses of non-defendant character evidence (bad character and sexual history) in Crown Court criminal trials through original empirical research.
Matt contributes commentaries to the Criminal Law Review on 'bad character' evidence cases.
Expertise Summary
Matt's research interests concern the entire criminal justice process, studied from theoretical, doctrinal, and empirical perspectives. He has a particular expertise in the rules of evidence and procedure which regulate criminal trials in England & Wales, and also in principles of criminalisation.
Teaching Summary
Matt teaches/has taught on the following Undergraduate modules: Introduction to Law and Legal Theory, Criminal Law, Criminal Evidence, and Criminal Justice.
On the LLM, Matt runs Principles of Criminalisation. He also teaches/has taught on: Fair Trials, Human Rights & Criminal Justice, Imprisonment & Human Rights, and Contemporary Issues in UK Criminal Justice.
Matt is able to supervise PhDs and LLB/LLM dissertations on any of the following topics:
- Criminal evidence and trial procedure;
- Criminal law (including criminalisation, theory of criminal law, and substantive criminal law);
- Pre-trial criminal procedure.
Research Summary
Matt's PhD research combined an in-depth doctrinal analysis with empirical methods (trial observations and interviews) in order to study when, how, and in what situations character evidence of… read more
Recent Publications
MATT THOMASON, 2019. The Criminal Bar Association Study and Section 41:
Dousing or Stoking the Flames? Archbold Review. 4-6
MATT THOMASON, 2019. R v Moody (Macaulay) (Case Comment) Criminal Law Review. 975-979
Current Research
Matt's PhD research combined an in-depth doctrinal analysis with empirical methods (trial observations and interviews) in order to study when, how, and in what situations character evidence of non-defendants is admitted in Crown Court criminal trials. Matt's current research concerns how the rules of criminal evidence and procedure are navigated, negotiated, and often avoided, by trial counsel.
Matt's research interests also include: philosophical principles of criminalisation, criminal law and evidence theory, and methodology in criminal justice research.