The British Crime Historians Symposium (BCHS)

Centre for Criminal Justice Studies

About the conference

The British Crime Historians Symposium (BCHS) was hosted fully online for the first time in its history by the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies in the School of Law, University of Leeds on 2nd and 3rd September 2021. The BCHS meets regularly to discuss and debate original historical research on all aspects of crime, policing, punishment, law, criminal justice and social regulation in Britain and its former colonies. Since the first meeting in 2008, the BCHS has become a leading academic forum in this broad and vibrant field of research. While the conference was postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic, the rescheduled online event proved a success, with two days of engaging discussions, presentations from scholars at different career stages and thought-provoking keynote presentations.

The conference was attended by over 100 delegates, with presentations from 81 speakers. While the majority of participants joined from the UK, we also had significant contributions from around the world, including participants from Europe, India, Australia, Canada and the USA. This highlights the value of the online format, which allowed for greater global engagement with the conference, raising its international profile. We were delighted to welcome many early career scholars in the field attending their first BCHS, and hosted online socials at the start of each day to welcome delegates in a more informal environment.

The conference featured engaging and wide-ranging keynote presentations and plenaries. The conference opened with a plenary roundtable assessing the contribution and legacy of the late Professor Clive Emsley to the historiography of crime and policing. Paul Lawrence (The Open University), Louise Jackson (University of Edinburgh), Mark Roodhouse (University of York) and Margo de Koster (VU Brussels/VU Amsterdam) discussed Clive’s outstanding contributions as a pioneer in the field of criminal justice history and spoke movingly on his personal and professional support for his colleagues and younger scholars working in the field.

At the end of the first day, Randolph Roth (Ohio State University) spoke powerfully on ‘Why Guns Are and Aren’t the Problem: The Relationship between Guns and Homicide in American History’. His paper highlighted a wide-ranging history of gun use and ownership in the US, and revealed some of the challenges of this historical research in the current political context.

The conference was closed by Pam Cox (University of Essex), Heather Shore (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Bob Shoemaker (University of Sheffield), who presented findings from their major research project entitled ‘Victims’ Access to Justice through English Criminal Courts, 1675 to the present’. They drew out some engaging long-term patterns in the changing access of victims to justice, and offered original suggestions on the contemporary challenges of participation in the criminal justice system.

Despite the potential challenges of the online format, the event ran very smoothly and participants welcomed the return of the BCHS. It provided valuable opportunities for new connections, potential collaboration and scholarly engagement at the start of a new academic year.

Access the recordings

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Welcome and Plenary 1: Clive Emsley and the Historiography of Crime and Policing Legacies and Prospects

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Plenary 2: Why Guns Are and Aren’t the Problem: The Relationship between Guns and Homicide in American History – by Professor Randolph Roth of Ohio State University