Crime, what crime?

Brexit has highlighted the media world that we live in; television, newspapers, social media, podcasts; we all rely on these mediums for our ‘facts’. But what we also know from the Brexit debate is that much of what we see, read or hear isn’t fact; most is opinion, conjecture misinterpretation, or simply ‘fake news’. As a lawyer, I am conscious that the Brexit debate has led to misconceptions regarding EU law, whether that is in terms of the scope of EU jurisdiction, how rules and regulations are passed, their status in relation to UK law, the content of that law, or the powers of the ECJ.

But…you will be pleased to know that this is not an evening for debating Brexit and EU law! Brexit is just one example of how the law can be misinterpreted but taken as ‘fact’. Law in general is often misconceived, and what we think is the law might be far from the truth.

As a university lecturer in law, it always surprises me how little the students I teach know about the law before embarking on their course. But that is not their fault; they are just a microcosm of wider society. How many people know where and how the law evolves, how it is implemented and what it actually is? Very few of course.

This presentation will rerun part of a presentation I gave in January 2017, when unfortunately, the snow on that evening prevented some people from attending. However, if you did come to that session, don’t worry, as this is an updated version with mostly new material.

I will be looking at one area of law, my area, criminal law! We will consider some areas of criminal liability, from theft, cybercrime and burglary, to domestic abuse, assaults and murder, to name a few. Will you know about the law or will you discover some entrenched legal myths?