Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Offending in England and Wales

Charlotte Herriott

I am a postgraduate researcher, currently in my first year of PhD study at Anglia Ruskin University. My interest lies within researching criminal justice responses to violence against women and girls (VAWG) and in particular sexual violence within the court structure. Within my postgraduate study of Woman and Child Abuse MA at CWASU London, I conducted court observation research analysing the impact of adversarial ideals upon rape myth construction during sexual offences trials. This study formed the pilot of my current PhD research which seeks to assess the impact of sexual history evidence (as a specific and extremely contentious rape myth) upon mock jury deliberations in rape trials in England and Wales.