As a lawyer I specialize in the law of evidence, in particular expert evidence (including its history and epistemology). I also have interests in human trafficking and the history of infanticide. As a criminologist I specialize in state crime. Phone: 01912274338 Address: Law School Northumbria University City Campus East Newcastle upon Tyne NE18ST
State Crime and Civil Activism explores the work of non-government organisations (NGOs) challeng... more State Crime and Civil Activism explores the work of non-government organisations (NGOs) challenging state violence and corruption in six countries – Colombia, Tunisia, Kenya, Turkey, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. It discusses the motives and methods of activists, and how they document and criticise wrongdoing by governments. Drawing on over 350 interviews with activists, this book discusses their motives; the tactics they use to withstand and challenge repression; and the legal and other norms they draw upon to challenge the state, including various forms of law and religious teaching. It analyses the relation between political activism and charitable work, and the often ambivalent views of civil society organisations towards violence. It highlights struggles over land as one of the key areas of state and corporate crime and civil resistance. Building on the theoretical foundations laid in their previous book State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption (Pluto 2004), the book explores the vital part that civil society plays in defining, documenting and denouncing state crime, and documents the dialectical process by which repression stimulates and shapes the forces of resistance against it.
Not so long ago, the only respectable question for philosophical, legal and political scholars to... more Not so long ago, the only respectable question for philosophical, legal and political scholars to ask about torture was how to ensure its effective legal prohibition. Recently, however, some leading lawyers and legal theorists have challenged those who are absolutely opposed to torture, arguing that in some circumstances torture may be morally permissible or even required. This has provoked a range of responses, from outraged dismissal to cautious concessions that the law has to adjust to new realities. This volume contains contributions by some of the leading contributors to these debates. Distinctively, however, it supplements these direct contributions to debate about the morality of torture – and the morality of discussing torture – with essays which provide important legal, sociological, historical analyses of this appalling human practice and of attempts to control it. With an international and interdisciplinary authorship, “Torture: Moral Absolutes and Ambiguities” will be essential reading for legal and political theorists, philosophers, sociologists, historians and indeed anybody interested in serious and informed thinking about this most disturbing phenomenon.
This book is an introductory account of the institution of criminal law, written for students and... more This book is an introductory account of the institution of criminal law, written for students and scholars of criminology and related social sciences. It is not a book on ‘law for criminologists’ but rather seeks to provide an interdisciplinary analysis of key elements of the institution of criminal law. The disciplines we draw upon include not only criminology and law, but also history, philosophy, politics and sociology. We explore the creation, development and key features of criminal law, along with some of the ideas, values and projects that have shaped the institution and our expectations of it.
Our account of criminal law is a critical one. We do not start out by making the assumption that criminal law is a necessary social institution – necessary to restrain the tendency which many people have to behave in ways that are seriously wrongful and harmful. Nor do we assume that the criminal law of today is a distinct improvement over what went before. Rather, we want to provide a fair hearing to the viewpoint that criminal law is a deeply flawed institution – e.g. one which causes more harm than it prevents or which unjustifiably violates the liberties of people in order to provide spurious benefits to society. On the other hand, we will seek to avoid the opposite error of taking it for granted that criminal law is a ‘failing’ social institution. Despite its deficiencies, we acknowledge the crucial role played by criminal law in articulating and defending important social values.
Abstract Very little is known about patients who have been the subject of long-term detention as ... more Abstract Very little is known about patients who have been the subject of long-term detention as a result of a finding ofunfitness to plead or legal insanity. In order to discover more about such patients permission was sought to examine Home Office files on all those who had been detained for 15 years of more up to December 1988. Permission was also obtained to interview a number of these patients who were held in three of the high security Special Hospitals. Two issues highlighted by the research were the use of 'common sense'criteria ...
Page 1. Insanity in summary trials TONY WARD ... Exparte K, they held, applied only where the off... more Page 1. Insanity in summary trials TONY WARD ... Exparte K, they held, applied only where the offence charged was one in which mens rea was an element. 'The defence is based on the absence of mens reu, but none is required for the offence of driving with an excess of alcohol. ...
Globalisation, citizenship and the war on terror, 2007
What contribution can criminology make to the explanation of terrorism? The growth of terrorism a... more What contribution can criminology make to the explanation of terrorism? The growth of terrorism and the global war on it are two of the most significant social changes of late modern society. Terrorism is a type of violent crime and the war on it marks a distinct type of global control response. The subject matter of criminology is the study of crime and its control, so a criminological explanation of both ought to be possible; it ought to come from its core.
State Crime and Civil Activism explores the work of non-government organisations (NGOs) challengi... more State Crime and Civil Activism explores the work of non-government organisations (NGOs) challenging state violence and corruption in six countries – Colombia, Tunisia, Kenya, Turkey, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. It discusses the motives and methods of activists, and how they document and criticise wrongdoing by governments. Drawing on over 350 interviews with activists, this book discusses their motives; the tactics they use to withstand and challenge repression; and the legal and other norms they draw upon to challenge the state, including various forms of law and religious teaching. It analyses the relation between political activism and charitable work, and the often ambivalent views of civil society organisations towards violence. It highlights struggles over land as one of the key areas of state and corporate crime and civil resistance. Building on the theoretical foundations laid in their previous book State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption (Pluto 2004), the book explores the vital part that civil society plays in defining, documenting and denouncing state crime, and documents the dialectical process by which repression stimulates and shapes the forces of resistance against it.
Cases of human trafficking are known to be difficult to prosecute. In this article we identify se... more Cases of human trafficking are known to be difficult to prosecute. In this article we identify several issues in the law of evidence that may contribute to these difficulties. We argue for the victims' rights as an important factor in evidential decisions, coupled with an insistence that such rights cannot trump the defendant's right to a fair trial. Restrictions on evidence of a witness's bad character or sexual history should not be interpreted in such a way as to prevent the defence from introducing evidence, or asking questions, that are of substantial probative value, even if they are potentially distressing to witnesses; but such evidence and questioning should be limited to what is necessary for a fair trial. The protection of victims and witnesses may also justify a relatively flexible approach to the admission of hearsay evidence, which avoids prejudging the truth of a witness's evidence in order to establish that s/he is in fear.
The International Journal of Evidence & Proof, 2020
Through a series of judicial decisions and Practice Directions, the English courts have developed... more Through a series of judicial decisions and Practice Directions, the English courts have developed a rule that expert evidence must have ‘a sufficiently reliable scientific basis to be admitted’. There is a dearth of case-law as to what degree of reliability is ‘sufficient’. This article argues that the test should be interpreted as analogous to one developed in the law of hearsay: expert evidence (scientific or otherwise) must be ‘potentially safely reliable’ in the context of the evidence as a whole. The implications of this test will vary according to the relationship between the expert evidence and the other evidence in the case. The article identifies three main patterns into which this relationship falls. Whether the jury relies upon the evidence will depend upon what they regard as the best explanation of the evidence and how far they trust the expert. Whether their reliance is safe (as a basis for conviction) depends on whether they could rationally rule out explanations cons...
Le role et la responsabilite du corps medical dans l'augmentation du nombre de suicides en pr... more Le role et la responsabilite du corps medical dans l'augmentation du nombre de suicides en prison sont analyses
We argue that legal argumentation, as the subject matter as well as a special subfield of Argumen... more We argue that legal argumentation, as the subject matter as well as a special subfield of Argumentation Studies (AS), has to be examined by making skilled use of the full panoply of tools such as argumentation and story schemes which are at the forefront of current work in AS. In reviewing the literature, we make explicit our own methodological choices (particularly regarding the place of normative deliberation in practical reasoning) and then illustrate the implications of such an approach through the analysis of a case study in the English law of evidence. We argue that a clear distinction must be drawn between practical argumentation and stories. Because of the institutional separation between legal judgment and fact-finding in common-law jury trials, we argue for the combination of argument and story-based analysis.
In the context of the UK Supreme Court decision in Sienkiewicz v Greif (2011) this article discus... more In the context of the UK Supreme Court decision in Sienkiewicz v Greif (2011) this article discusses the question whether so-called “naked statistical evidence” can satisfy the civil standard of proof in English law, the “balance of probabilities”. It argues that what is required to satisfy the standard is a judicial belief that causation is more likely than not, rather than a categorical belief that causation occurred. Whether such a belief is justified depends on the weight of the evidence as well as the degree of probability it purports to establish, but there is no reason of principle why epidemiological evidence alone should not satisfy this standard.
This chapter discusses the concept of state crime and proposes a distinction between ‘core state ... more This chapter discusses the concept of state crime and proposes a distinction between ‘core state crimes’ of organized murder, rape, theft, etc., and more ambiguous criminal activity. Focusing mainly on core state crimes, it reviews some of the main approaches to explaining state violence and corruption. It then explores the methods used by social scientists to study state crime. While ethnographic fieldwork is the central method of research, it is complemented by a range of other sources of quantitative and qualitative data. These include, for example, the analysis of social media content and satellite imagery.
State Crime and Civil Activism explores the work of non-government organisations (NGOs) challeng... more State Crime and Civil Activism explores the work of non-government organisations (NGOs) challenging state violence and corruption in six countries – Colombia, Tunisia, Kenya, Turkey, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. It discusses the motives and methods of activists, and how they document and criticise wrongdoing by governments. Drawing on over 350 interviews with activists, this book discusses their motives; the tactics they use to withstand and challenge repression; and the legal and other norms they draw upon to challenge the state, including various forms of law and religious teaching. It analyses the relation between political activism and charitable work, and the often ambivalent views of civil society organisations towards violence. It highlights struggles over land as one of the key areas of state and corporate crime and civil resistance. Building on the theoretical foundations laid in their previous book State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption (Pluto 2004), the book explores the vital part that civil society plays in defining, documenting and denouncing state crime, and documents the dialectical process by which repression stimulates and shapes the forces of resistance against it.
Not so long ago, the only respectable question for philosophical, legal and political scholars to... more Not so long ago, the only respectable question for philosophical, legal and political scholars to ask about torture was how to ensure its effective legal prohibition. Recently, however, some leading lawyers and legal theorists have challenged those who are absolutely opposed to torture, arguing that in some circumstances torture may be morally permissible or even required. This has provoked a range of responses, from outraged dismissal to cautious concessions that the law has to adjust to new realities. This volume contains contributions by some of the leading contributors to these debates. Distinctively, however, it supplements these direct contributions to debate about the morality of torture – and the morality of discussing torture – with essays which provide important legal, sociological, historical analyses of this appalling human practice and of attempts to control it. With an international and interdisciplinary authorship, “Torture: Moral Absolutes and Ambiguities” will be essential reading for legal and political theorists, philosophers, sociologists, historians and indeed anybody interested in serious and informed thinking about this most disturbing phenomenon.
This book is an introductory account of the institution of criminal law, written for students and... more This book is an introductory account of the institution of criminal law, written for students and scholars of criminology and related social sciences. It is not a book on ‘law for criminologists’ but rather seeks to provide an interdisciplinary analysis of key elements of the institution of criminal law. The disciplines we draw upon include not only criminology and law, but also history, philosophy, politics and sociology. We explore the creation, development and key features of criminal law, along with some of the ideas, values and projects that have shaped the institution and our expectations of it.
Our account of criminal law is a critical one. We do not start out by making the assumption that criminal law is a necessary social institution – necessary to restrain the tendency which many people have to behave in ways that are seriously wrongful and harmful. Nor do we assume that the criminal law of today is a distinct improvement over what went before. Rather, we want to provide a fair hearing to the viewpoint that criminal law is a deeply flawed institution – e.g. one which causes more harm than it prevents or which unjustifiably violates the liberties of people in order to provide spurious benefits to society. On the other hand, we will seek to avoid the opposite error of taking it for granted that criminal law is a ‘failing’ social institution. Despite its deficiencies, we acknowledge the crucial role played by criminal law in articulating and defending important social values.
Abstract Very little is known about patients who have been the subject of long-term detention as ... more Abstract Very little is known about patients who have been the subject of long-term detention as a result of a finding ofunfitness to plead or legal insanity. In order to discover more about such patients permission was sought to examine Home Office files on all those who had been detained for 15 years of more up to December 1988. Permission was also obtained to interview a number of these patients who were held in three of the high security Special Hospitals. Two issues highlighted by the research were the use of 'common sense'criteria ...
Page 1. Insanity in summary trials TONY WARD ... Exparte K, they held, applied only where the off... more Page 1. Insanity in summary trials TONY WARD ... Exparte K, they held, applied only where the offence charged was one in which mens rea was an element. 'The defence is based on the absence of mens reu, but none is required for the offence of driving with an excess of alcohol. ...
Globalisation, citizenship and the war on terror, 2007
What contribution can criminology make to the explanation of terrorism? The growth of terrorism a... more What contribution can criminology make to the explanation of terrorism? The growth of terrorism and the global war on it are two of the most significant social changes of late modern society. Terrorism is a type of violent crime and the war on it marks a distinct type of global control response. The subject matter of criminology is the study of crime and its control, so a criminological explanation of both ought to be possible; it ought to come from its core.
State Crime and Civil Activism explores the work of non-government organisations (NGOs) challengi... more State Crime and Civil Activism explores the work of non-government organisations (NGOs) challenging state violence and corruption in six countries – Colombia, Tunisia, Kenya, Turkey, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. It discusses the motives and methods of activists, and how they document and criticise wrongdoing by governments. Drawing on over 350 interviews with activists, this book discusses their motives; the tactics they use to withstand and challenge repression; and the legal and other norms they draw upon to challenge the state, including various forms of law and religious teaching. It analyses the relation between political activism and charitable work, and the often ambivalent views of civil society organisations towards violence. It highlights struggles over land as one of the key areas of state and corporate crime and civil resistance. Building on the theoretical foundations laid in their previous book State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption (Pluto 2004), the book explores the vital part that civil society plays in defining, documenting and denouncing state crime, and documents the dialectical process by which repression stimulates and shapes the forces of resistance against it.
Cases of human trafficking are known to be difficult to prosecute. In this article we identify se... more Cases of human trafficking are known to be difficult to prosecute. In this article we identify several issues in the law of evidence that may contribute to these difficulties. We argue for the victims' rights as an important factor in evidential decisions, coupled with an insistence that such rights cannot trump the defendant's right to a fair trial. Restrictions on evidence of a witness's bad character or sexual history should not be interpreted in such a way as to prevent the defence from introducing evidence, or asking questions, that are of substantial probative value, even if they are potentially distressing to witnesses; but such evidence and questioning should be limited to what is necessary for a fair trial. The protection of victims and witnesses may also justify a relatively flexible approach to the admission of hearsay evidence, which avoids prejudging the truth of a witness's evidence in order to establish that s/he is in fear.
The International Journal of Evidence & Proof, 2020
Through a series of judicial decisions and Practice Directions, the English courts have developed... more Through a series of judicial decisions and Practice Directions, the English courts have developed a rule that expert evidence must have ‘a sufficiently reliable scientific basis to be admitted’. There is a dearth of case-law as to what degree of reliability is ‘sufficient’. This article argues that the test should be interpreted as analogous to one developed in the law of hearsay: expert evidence (scientific or otherwise) must be ‘potentially safely reliable’ in the context of the evidence as a whole. The implications of this test will vary according to the relationship between the expert evidence and the other evidence in the case. The article identifies three main patterns into which this relationship falls. Whether the jury relies upon the evidence will depend upon what they regard as the best explanation of the evidence and how far they trust the expert. Whether their reliance is safe (as a basis for conviction) depends on whether they could rationally rule out explanations cons...
Le role et la responsabilite du corps medical dans l'augmentation du nombre de suicides en pr... more Le role et la responsabilite du corps medical dans l'augmentation du nombre de suicides en prison sont analyses
We argue that legal argumentation, as the subject matter as well as a special subfield of Argumen... more We argue that legal argumentation, as the subject matter as well as a special subfield of Argumentation Studies (AS), has to be examined by making skilled use of the full panoply of tools such as argumentation and story schemes which are at the forefront of current work in AS. In reviewing the literature, we make explicit our own methodological choices (particularly regarding the place of normative deliberation in practical reasoning) and then illustrate the implications of such an approach through the analysis of a case study in the English law of evidence. We argue that a clear distinction must be drawn between practical argumentation and stories. Because of the institutional separation between legal judgment and fact-finding in common-law jury trials, we argue for the combination of argument and story-based analysis.
In the context of the UK Supreme Court decision in Sienkiewicz v Greif (2011) this article discus... more In the context of the UK Supreme Court decision in Sienkiewicz v Greif (2011) this article discusses the question whether so-called “naked statistical evidence” can satisfy the civil standard of proof in English law, the “balance of probabilities”. It argues that what is required to satisfy the standard is a judicial belief that causation is more likely than not, rather than a categorical belief that causation occurred. Whether such a belief is justified depends on the weight of the evidence as well as the degree of probability it purports to establish, but there is no reason of principle why epidemiological evidence alone should not satisfy this standard.
This chapter discusses the concept of state crime and proposes a distinction between ‘core state ... more This chapter discusses the concept of state crime and proposes a distinction between ‘core state crimes’ of organized murder, rape, theft, etc., and more ambiguous criminal activity. Focusing mainly on core state crimes, it reviews some of the main approaches to explaining state violence and corruption. It then explores the methods used by social scientists to study state crime. While ethnographic fieldwork is the central method of research, it is complemented by a range of other sources of quantitative and qualitative data. These include, for example, the analysis of social media content and satellite imagery.
Critica Penal Y Poder Una Publicacion Del Observatorio Del Sistema Penal Y Los Derechos Humanos, 2013
This article explores the relation between normative and sociological conceptions of ‘human right... more This article explores the relation between normative and sociological conceptions of ‘human rights’, and their use in defining and analysing state crime. Drawing on the work or Bryan Turner and Georg Simmel, it argues that ‘human rights violations’ should not be understood primarily as infractions of specific legal norms, but rather as violations the fundamental principle of human rights, which is that states must justify their coercive actions in terms which all those affected could accept as free and morally equal subjects. This principle is a basic postulate of post-traditional moral thought, a system of values with which the interpretive social sciences have an implicit affinity.
Reviews the open-access book edited by Mason and Seng, using the Irish Supreme Court decision on ... more Reviews the open-access book edited by Mason and Seng, using the Irish Supreme Court decision on video evidence in DPP v McD [2016] IESC71 to illustrate the scope, complexity and importance of the subject of eelctronic evidence
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Books by Tony Ward
Drawing on over 350 interviews with activists, this book discusses their motives; the tactics they use to withstand and challenge repression; and the legal and other norms they draw upon to challenge the state, including various forms of law and religious teaching. It analyses the relation between political activism and charitable work, and the often ambivalent views of civil society organisations towards violence. It highlights struggles over land as one of the key areas of state and corporate crime and civil resistance.
Building on the theoretical foundations laid in their previous book State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption (Pluto 2004), the book explores the vital part that civil society plays in defining, documenting and denouncing state crime, and documents the dialectical process by which repression stimulates and shapes the forces of resistance against it.
Our account of criminal law is a critical one. We do not start out by making the assumption that criminal law is a necessary social institution – necessary to restrain the tendency which many people have to behave in ways that are seriously wrongful and harmful. Nor do we assume that the criminal law of today is a distinct improvement over what went before. Rather, we want to provide a fair hearing to the viewpoint that criminal law is a deeply flawed institution – e.g. one which causes more harm than it prevents or which unjustifiably violates the liberties of people in order to provide spurious benefits to society. On the other hand, we will seek to avoid the opposite error of taking it for granted that criminal law is a ‘failing’ social institution. Despite its deficiencies, we acknowledge the crucial role played by criminal law in articulating and defending important social values.
Papers by Tony Ward
Drawing on over 350 interviews with activists, this book discusses their motives; the tactics they use to withstand and challenge repression; and the legal and other norms they draw upon to challenge the state, including various forms of law and religious teaching. It analyses the relation between political activism and charitable work, and the often ambivalent views of civil society organisations towards violence. It highlights struggles over land as one of the key areas of state and corporate crime and civil resistance.
Building on the theoretical foundations laid in their previous book State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption (Pluto 2004), the book explores the vital part that civil society plays in defining, documenting and denouncing state crime, and documents the dialectical process by which repression stimulates and shapes the forces of resistance against it.
Our account of criminal law is a critical one. We do not start out by making the assumption that criminal law is a necessary social institution – necessary to restrain the tendency which many people have to behave in ways that are seriously wrongful and harmful. Nor do we assume that the criminal law of today is a distinct improvement over what went before. Rather, we want to provide a fair hearing to the viewpoint that criminal law is a deeply flawed institution – e.g. one which causes more harm than it prevents or which unjustifiably violates the liberties of people in order to provide spurious benefits to society. On the other hand, we will seek to avoid the opposite error of taking it for granted that criminal law is a ‘failing’ social institution. Despite its deficiencies, we acknowledge the crucial role played by criminal law in articulating and defending important social values.