Book Launch: 'Disabling Criminal Justice' by Marie Tidball

The Warden, Robert Hannigan CMG, is delighted to host the book launch of 'Disabling Criminal Justice', the new book by Dr Marie Tidball on the governance of autistic adult defendants in the English criminal justice system. Marie will be in conversation with Professor Lucia Zedner, Senior Research Fellow at All Souls and a Professor in the Law Faculty.

Drawing on rigorously-researched case studies of autistic adult defendants through the court process, the book brings together relevant legal and policy literature, criminological and criminal justice theory and disability studies to provide insight into the ‘dividing practices’ that affect the governance of disabled defendants’ conduct.

In her foreword to the book, Professor Zedner describes it as making 'a unique contribution to our understanding of how the CJS governs and misgoverns autistic defendants. Importantly, it shows how this better understanding might allow us to meet their needs and protect their rights'.

Professor Anna Lawson, Joint Director of the Centre for Disability Studies and Co-ordinator of the Disability Law Hub, University of Leeds, in her remarks on the book, writes:

'The meticulousness of Tidball’s research, when combined with the clarity and elegance of her writing, create a piece of work which seems destined to become a reference-point and guide for the scholars of today and tomorrow. Disabling Criminal Justice has the rare quality amongst academic books of being a gripping read as well as a very impressive piece of scholarship'.

Dr Marie Tidball is a founding director and coordinator of the Oxford University Disability Law and Policy Project and a Research Associate at Wadham College. Her academic interests concern the intersection between disability and society with a specific focus on the criminal justice system. In addition to her academic pursuits Marie has extensive experience of project managing award-winning campaigns aimed at driving disability inclusion within academia, civil society, and government. Prior to her academic career Marie worked as a broadcast journalist for Channel 4 News and as Policy and Legal Officer for an autism charity. It was her work on the latter which motivated the research for her book, Disabling Criminal Justice.

Marie lives in South Yorkshire, where she is standing for Parliament to represent the Penistone and Stocksbridge constituency, where she grew up.

Professor Lucia Zedner is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls and a Professor in the Law Faculty. Her research interests include criminal justice, criminal law, security, and immigration control. She is author or co-editor of 11 books including Privatising Border Control (2022), Changing Contours of Criminal Justice (2016), Preventive Justice (2014), Security (2009) and Criminal Justice (2004). She is currently a Commissioner on an Independent Commission on UK Counter-Terrorism. Lucia had the pleasure of teaching Marie as an undergraduate in 2005 and again as a graduate student in 2008-2009.