Virtual Criminal Law Group

@vclg.bsky.social

The Virtual Criminal Law Group is an online academic discussion group for criminal law broadly construed, founded in April 2020 and co-organised by Scotland-based criminal law scholars. Write to vclgscotland@gmail.com to join our mailing list!

This Wednesday 27 May is our final Spring meeting, where we will discuss Chloë Kennedy's paper "Procuring ‘Gross Indecency’: Labouchère’s Overlooked Offence". Join us at 3pm UK time, hope to see you then!

Next Wednesday 13 May, we will be hosting Professor Ekow Yankah (University of Michigan) to discuss his paper "Taking Victims Seriously: Abolitionism, Minimalism and Punishment as Equality Affirming", at 3pm UK time. The draft paper has been circulated to our mailing list - we hope to see you then!

Join us next Wednesday 29 April to discuss Daniel Hill, Stephen McLeod, Attila Tanyi, and Tarek Yusari’s paper, "The Law and Ethics of Entrapment: Definition, Evaluation, and Implications". Hope to see you online!

Our CfA for the Autumn seminar series is open! If you’re interested, please email an abstract (maximum 500 words) to vclgscotland@gmail.com by Friday 8 May. We welcome submissions across topics related to criminal law theory and practice, criminal procedure, and criminal justice, broadly construed.

Next week, we will be having this term's hybrid session, at the University of Aberdeen and online as usual. We will be discussing Dr Clare Frances Moran's book chapter draft "The Concept of Shielding" on Wednesday 4 March, from 3.30pm UK time. Email us for further details, and hope to see you then!

The VCLG is back for the new term! We begin our series with a paper from Lindsay Farmer, 'Climate protest, political dissent and the criminal law: The rise and fall (and rise again) of conspiracy'. The session will be on Wed 28 Jan, 3.30-5.00pm UK time (for this session only). Hope to see you then!

Next week, Wednesday 10 December, we will discuss the recent Scots Law decisions - Daly v HM Advocate and Keir v HM Advocate - which change the position on the admissibility of sexual history and character evidence. We hope to see you then!

Join us thus Wednesday at 3pm, to discuss Ellens Nowell’s paper “Narratives of Criminal Justice and Sexual History Evidence Rules”. Link for seminar has been sent out this morning to our mailing list. We hope to see you then!

We have been in full flow of events during the Autumn, and our next session will be hosting Ellie Nowell (Glasgow), discussing her paper “The Relationship between Statistics and Sexual History Evidence Reform”, on Wednesday 26 November, 3pm UK time. Hope to see you online!

Call for Abstracts for the Spring 2026 seminar series. Details in the image, and we hope to hear from you with your abstracts by 10 October. Please circulate widely and feel free to contact us with any questions. See you online!

Call for Abstracts - Virtual Criminal Law Group Spring Series 2026
We are pleased to announce that we are opening our call for abstracts for the VCLG Spring Series.
We welcome submissions from researchers across topics related to criminal law theory and practice, criminal procedure, and criminal justice, broadly construed. We welcome submissions from a variety of career stages, including ECRs and PGRs.
Our seminars will run at 3-4:30 pm GMT on alternating Wednesdays (dates TBD, between January and March). Seminars are pre-read and we circulate papers one week in advance. The seminar itself will include a very brief (5-10 minute) introduction by speakers, followed by Q&A. We normally meet over Zoom, with one hybrid session in each series.
If you are interested in presenting with us, please email an abstract (500w max) to vclgscotland@gmail.com by 10 October. We will respond in due course after the call closes.