Journal preview
Daffa Budiman: ‘The Hidden Logic of Labour Trafficking: Opportunity Structures and Prevention in Western Countries.’
Labour trafficking (LT) persists across Western countries despite extensive legislation, enforcement initiatives, and awareness campaigns. This dissertation applied crime script analysis (CSA) and situational crime prevention (SCP) to uncover the hidden logic of LT, examine how offender decision-making and opportunity structures sustain exploitation, and develop stage-specific, proportionate, and context-sensitive interventions. A crime script for Western contexts was constructed through qualitative analysis of 23 academic and NGO sources. To evaluate prevention practices, the United Kingdom was used as a national example, selected for its prominence in trafficking research and global prevention ranking. The crime script revealed a multi-stage procedural logic covering recruitment, transportation, reception, and exploitation, characterised by offender role fluidity, adaptability, and recycling of coercive tactics across stages. Analysis integrating SCP’s five dimensions with the script showed how these factors interact across stages, revealing the adaptive strategies offenders use to exploit vulnerabilities and sustain operations. Reassessment of UK prevention measures through the SCP lens identified a heavy reliance on risk-focused interventions, with other dimensions underutilised. A new suite of interventions was developed from the script findings, supported by existing literature, and evaluated against “elegant security” to ensure effectiveness, proportionality, and feasibility. These measures aim to close systemic vulnerabilities, strengthen safeguards, and anticipate offender adaptation. The study contributes theoretically by refining the integration of CSA and SCP for complex, adaptive crimes and practically by providing a transferable, stage-specific prevention framework. It concludes that multi-dimensional, opportunity-focused strategies offer a sustainable path to disrupting LT, protecting workers, and strengthening labour market integrity.
Olivia Timperley: ‘Breaking Chains: How Trauma-Informed Justice Can Disrupt Cycles of Crime Across Generations.’
This dissertation critically examines how trauma, particularly early-life and intergenerational trauma, shapes youth offending pathways and how trauma-informed frameworks can transform justice responses in England and Wales. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from developmental psychology, attachment theory, social learning theory, and youth desistance research, it explores how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), systemic inequalities, and social disadvantage increase criminogenic risks. While traditional justice systems emphasise individual culpability, a growing body of research argues that addressing trauma as both a developmental and structural issue is essential for effective, ethical crime prevention. The study employs a qualitative, interpretive methodology, using semi-structured interviews with seven professionals across youth justice, policing, social care, and legal services. The findings reveal systemic barriers undermining trauma-informed practice, including inconsistent professional understanding, multi-agency disconnection, resource constraints, and entrenched punitive cultures. Participants highlight the mismatch between reactive enforcement priorities and the preventative, relational interventions needed to break cycles of harm. The dissertation offers a critical review of key trauma-informed frameworks, including the Trauma-Informed Wales Framework, the Youth Justice Blueprint, the Child First model, and England’s National Protocol on Looked-After Children. While these frameworks reflect promising shifts towards resilience-based, rights-centred, and developmentally appropriate interventions, their impact is limited by fragmented implementation and structural gaps. Overall, the dissertation argues that embedding trauma-informed principles across all levels of youth justice practice requires national leadership, cross-sector collaboration, sustained investment, and a shift from punitive to rehabilitative models. It calls for system-wide transformation to support vulnerable young people and break intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and criminalisation.
Imogen Rail: ‘To what extent are holistic approaches more effective at dealing with female offenders compared with traditional punitive methods?’
This dissertation aims to explore the extent to which holistic approaches are more effective in addressing the needs of female offenders compared to traditional punitive methods. Through a critical review of existing literature, it is established that punitive responses not only fail to address the root causes of female offending but often exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. This has profound negative impacts on both the individual and wider society. Therefore, the study goes on to explore the theories that aim to resolve this, identifying a divide in the literature regarding the implementation of holistic practices. One clear argument calling for holistic methods to be implemented within prisons, the other calling for their use as alternatives to incarceration. As a result, arguments for both models are examined, with particular attention given to trauma-informed care, gender-responsive interventions, and community-based support. The findings suggest that while holistic practices within prison settings offer certain benefits, holistic alternatives to imprisonment, when properly funded and effectively managed, demonstrate the greatest potential for promoting rehabilitation, reducing recidivism and diverting women from custody. Following this research, policy should be aimed at implementing and funding the widespread adoption of Women’s Centres. Additionally, further empirical research should be undertaken to build on and explore female offender’s experiences in modern day holistic alternatives to prison.
Ioan Bush: ‘Are Football Banning Orders a Legitimate Legal Response to Football-Related Violence and Disorder?’
Football Banning Orders (FBOs) were introduced as part of a targeted legal response to the issue of violence and disorder at, or in relation to, football matches. They now form the cornerstone of a public order strategy for preventing football-related disorder, by excluding recipients from football stadiums and other spaces where there is potential for troublemaking. This dissertation uses a bespoke framework to critically assess the legitimacy of FBO legislation, with regard to its civil libertarian implications, effectiveness and perceived legitimacy. It is found that, whilst the objective of the legislation is preventative, FBOs have punitive consequences for the liberty to move and assemble freely with others, as well as for due process protections. Analysis of these themes reveals that the legitimacy of FBO legislation is undermined by its growing infringements upon civil liberties, in particular the ‘hybrid’ procedure for imposing FBOs on complaint in the civil courts. However, it is recognised that there continues to be a specific issue of football-related disorder; a wide range of reforms to the legislative framework would enable FBOs to respond to this disorder in a more legitimate manner. Most pressingly, it is proposed that FBO conditions must be afforded greater individual consideration, with the aid of official guidelines, and that the civil procedure requires stronger due process safeguards. This would mitigate the civil liberties concerns identified, whilst ensuring that FBOs are perceived to be a legitimate response that is capable of successfully preventing football-related disorder.
Alissia Briggs: ‘From ‘MetaBirkins’ to the ‘MetaGala’: To What Extent Can UK Trade Mark Law Strike a Balance Between Artistic Expression and Trade Mark Protection in Metaverse Fashion?’
The metaverse has produced new opportunities for artistic expression through the creation of metaverse fashion. As artists design digital clothing and accessories, concerns arise regarding the application of traditional intellectual property law, particularly trade mark protection. The dissertation aims to determine whether the current legal framework in the United Kingdom can strike an effective balance between protecting trade marks and forms of artistic expression in metaverse fashion. To achieve this objective, it first offers a legal and theoretical overview of current trade mark protection under the Trade Marks Act 1994, and how this protection interacts with artistic expression. Subsequently, it will critically examine the recent metaverse fashion case, Hermès v Rothschild in the United States to assess how it would be approached in the United Kingdom and whether the existing framework effectively accommodates the inherent complexities the metaverse creates. The analysis will outline the limitations of both jurisdictions’ interpretations to advocate for a more flexible approach that will adequately protect artistic expression. Finally, it will explore metaverse fashion shows using hypothetical scenarios to test the application of the current law and consider legal developments from the European Union and European jurisdictions which may be of influence. Overall, the dissertation contends that trade mark law in the United Kingdom does not yet strike a fair balance between trade mark protection and artistic expression. To attain this balance, the law must evolve to reflect contemporary understandings of trade mark functions and the unique nature of artistic expression in the metaverse.
Alexandra Lane-Durand: ‘She Said, He Sued: Contracting Silence and Bankrupting Dissidents. How Private Law Mechanisms Silence Victims of Sexual Misconduct in England and Wales.’
Since the MeToo movement’s resurgence in 2017, sparked by revelations of Harvey Weinstein’s predatory behaviour and extensive use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) critical discourse on the legal silencing of sexual misconduct victims has intensified. This conversation was further shaped by the contrasting results of the Depp-Heard defamation cases in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. This dissertation aims to examine how private law mechanisms, specifically NDAs and defamation law, operate to silence victims while shielding perpetrators from accountability in England and Wales. Through a feminist theoretical framework integrating MacKinnon’s dominance theory, Fineman’s vulnerability thesis, and Fricker’s concept of epistemic injustice, this research demonstrates how ostensibly neutral legal tools function as sophisticated silencing mechanisms. NDAs transform systemic patterns of misconduct into privatised, individual matters through confidentiality clauses, while defamation law creates insurmountable barriers through prohibitive costs and the reverse burden of proof standard. These mechanisms reinforce gendered hierarchies by systematically undermining women’s testimony and working within institutional frameworks defined by male standards of credibility. This dissertation argues that without comprehensive reform to address these power asymmetries, the law will continue to protect perpetrators and prevent victims from forming a collective understanding of sexual misconduct.
Rory Lyttle: ‘Are US Publicity Rights the Way Forward in Protecting Artists’ Vocal Likeness from Generative AI in the UK?’
The disruptive impact of artificial intelligence (AI) has shaken the entertainment industry to its core. Amongst the most pressing concerns is AI’s ability to replicate artists’ voices with startling precision, creating realistic deepfakes that threaten artists’ autonomy, reputation, and economic interests. In the face of these uncertainties, artists in the UK are forced to rely on the existing legal framework, yet serious doubts remain over whether these avenues can combat these emerging challenges. This dissertation argues that the UK should introduce a US-style right of publicity, due to the currents laws’ inadequacy in responding to AI vocal replication. It will achieve this by conducting a comparative analysis of the protections available for artists in the UK and the US. It begins by identifying the shortcomings of UK laws pertaining to intellectual property and misrepresentation. These gaps underscore the need to explore alternative approaches, particularly from the US, a fellow common law jurisdiction with a large creative industry. Emphasis will be placed on California’s right of publicity, which has been employed to protect indicia of personal identity, including vocal likeness, and has potential to offer robust protections against AI-driven misappropriation. Before calling for reform, the UK’s current policy trajectory regarding AI will be examined, highlighting its ineffectiveness in providing recourse for artists. Ultimately, it concludes that the UK should follow in the footsteps of the US and adopt a right of publicity to give artists greater control over the commercial exploitation of their vocal identity in the digital age.