Virtual Seminar on Comparative Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Criminal Law Theory

The Anglo-German Dialogue on Criminal Law and Justice is sponsoring a new virtual seminar on comparative criminal law (doctrine, theory, procedure, and evidence) and criminal justice—for short, the Virtual Comparative Criminal Law Seminar or “VCCL Seminar.” If you are an academic with an interest in these topics, and you would like to engage in an interjurisdictional comparative and conceptual dialogue on them—our two main jurisdictional types are German and Anglo-American, though people in other legal systems are very welcome—please fill out the form linked here. Graduate students in criminal law and justice are also welcome, but they should add on line 3, where it asks for the applicant’s institution or work place their advisor’s name and email.

The format of our meetings will be fundamentally exploratory. Rather than discuss papers that have already been written, we plan to pair people interested in the same topic from complementary jurisdictions. Each would present their thoughts and questions for 8-10 minutes. The remaining hour or so would be spent in discussion of the topic: seeking both questions and answers across the jurisdictional divide. At the end of the discussion, the editors of the Anglo-German Dialogue’s Fundamental Concepts series and the presenters will discuss whether a paper based on the discussion should be incorporated into a future volume of the Fundamental Concepts series. They would also be free to pursue the topic in any other way they wish.

The seminar-topics for fall 2023 will be (tentatively, dates and times tbc):

- Prosecuting rape: Tatjana Hörnle DE & Vanessa Monrow (Warwick) (chair Hannah Quirk)
- Prosecutorial Culture: Darryl Brown (US) and Klaus Gärditz (DE) (chair: Stuart Green)
- Misdemeanors: Megan Stevenson (US) & Stefan Harrendorf (DE) (chair: Alec Walen)

Past seminars were:
2023:
- March 24: Transferred intent: Shachar Eldar (UK) and Thomas Weigend (DE) (chair: Findlay Stark)
2022:
- February 18: Alec Walen (US) and Benjamin Vogel (DE) on mens rea (chair: Findlay Stark)
- April 22: Jenia Turner (US), Jackie Hodgson (UK), & Dominik Brodowski (DE) on virtual criminal proceedings (chair: Stefanie Bock)
- June 10: Mark Dsouza (UK) and Charlotte Schmitt-Leonardy (DE) on corporate crime (chair: Stuart Green)
- October 21: Stephen Morse (US) and Johannes Kaspar (DE) on mental disorder and criminal responsibility (chair: Matthew Dyson)
- November 11: Sandy Mayson (US) & Christine Morgenstern (DE) on bail & pretrial detention (chair: Carsten Momsen)
- December 9: Gustavo Beade (Latin America and German) & Leo Katz (US and German) on actio libera in causa (chair: Alec Walen)

We are still looking for topics and discussants for the spring and fall of 2024. If you are interested in participating, please add a note describing the topic, and listing a discussion partner if you have one in mind, when applying to join the group, or send a note indicating the topic you would like to discuss to Alec Walen at awalen@rutgers.edu.