Dr Michael Naughton is a Reader in Sociology and Law across the Law School and the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS) at the University of Bristol. He has received numerous awards and prizes for his research and wider activities on the problem of the wrongful conviction of innocent victims, the challenges confronting prisoners maintaining innocence and the limitations or outright failings of the machinery in place to assist innocent victims to overturn their wrongful convictions when they occur.
Dr Naughton is the Founder and Director of Empowering the innocent (ETI), a research project that produces and circulates forms of counter criminal justice system discourse widely to raise awareness of, and give voice to, alleged innocent victims of false allegations and wrongful convictions/imprisonment to amplify their claims of innocence and strengthen their struggles for truth and justice.
Between 2005-2015, Dr Naughton was Founder and Director of the first innocence project in the UK dedicated to investigating alleged wrongful convictions, the University of Bristol Innocence Project (UoBIP). This saw him spearhead the introduction of a new form of clinical legal education in the UK based on the innocence projects that originated in the United States. Under his supervision, student volunteers investigated alleged wrongful convictions on a pro bono basis, with input from criminal appeal lawyers and forensic experts where appropriate.
Between 2004-2015, Dr Naughton was Founder and Director of Innocence Network UK (INUK), which saw him facilitate the setting up, and support the subsequent running, of a national network with a total of 36 Innocence Projects in the UK dedicated to investigating and overturning wrongful convictions. This included an innocence project in a corporate law firm, which was also a global first.
Research
Dr Naughton’s research centres on claims of factual innocence by alleged victims of false allegations, and wrongful conviction and/or imprisonment unable to overturn their convictions within the existing arrangements. He has researched and written extensively on the criminal justice system to define and emphasise the likely scale, causes and forms of harm associated with miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions. Building on this work, he has also highlighted the limitations and/or outright failings of the prison system, Parole Board, Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in dealing with claims of factual innocence by alleged innocent victims of wrongful conviction and/or imprisonment.
Another feature of his research is an evaluation of the construction and deployments of forms of criminal justice system knowledge or discourse. This has included conceptual analyses of how ‘truth’, ‘justice’, ‘innocence’, ‘fairness’, ‘integrity’, ‘harm’ and ‘victim’ are understood and operationalized by competing discourses in the realm of the criminal justice system and how they shape individual thinking and public attitudes and provide consent and legitimacy to governmental exercises of criminal justice system power.
The practical concern at the heart of Dr Naughton’s research is always to identify any lessons that might be learned from false allegations and wrongful convictions and translated into legislative and/or policy reforms that might prevent future false allegations and the wrongful conviction and/or imprisonment of innocent victims and/or redress the harms that they cause to existing victims.
Publications
Dr Naughton has published extensively on miscarriages of justice and wrongful conviction/imprisonment. He is the author or editor of four books: The innocent and the criminal justice system (2013, Palgrave Macmillan) (click here); Rethinking miscarriages of justice: Beyond the tip of the iceberg (2012 [2007], Palgrave Macmillan) (click here); The Criminal Cases Review Commission: Hope for the innocent? (Editor, 2012 [2009], Palgrave Macmillan) (click here); and, Claims of innocence: An introduction to wrongful convictions and how they might be challenged (with Tan, G., 2010, University of Bristol/LexisNexis) (click here).
In addition, Dr Naughton has published over 80 further articles in leading peer-reviewed academic journals, which includes The British Journal of Criminology, Critical Social Policy, Critical Criminology, International Journal of Evidence and Proof, Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Law Quarterly and Critical Education, edited book collections, professional journals, broadsheet newspapers and other specialist journals and magazines (Click here for all publications listed by year of publication).
Presentations
To share his research within academia, Dr Naughton has given over 20 refereed conference papers on his researches to leading academic conferences relating to his fields of interest, including to the annual conferences of the British Society of Criminology, European Society of Criminology, Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA), Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) and the European Group for the Study of Deviancy and Social Control (click here for details).
Dr Naughton has also given more than 50 invited presentations on issues relating to his research to professional, public and third sector conferences in the UK, including for LawWorks (Solicitors Pro Bono Group), PILnet (Public Interest Lawyers Network), Association of Prison Lawyers (APL), Parole Board of England and Wales, Independent Monitoring Board for Prisons (IMB), Law Society for England and Wales (South West), Law Society of Wales, Law Society of Ireland, Criminal Appeal Lawyers Association (CALA), Progressing Prisoners Maintaining Innocence (PPMI), Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO), United Against Injustice (UAI), Falsely Accused Teachers and Carers (FACT) and False Allegations Support Organisation (FASO) (click here for details).
Media
Dr Naughton has been interviewed widely in national newspapers and for television and radio programmes on his work and a range of criminal justice issues. This includes by The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, BBC 1, BBC Panorama, BBC Rough Justice, BBC News 24, ITV, GMTV, HTV, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service. It also includes a range of national podcasts and international newspapers and radio and television programmes in Norway, Armenia, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland (click here for details).
Impact
Dr Naughton has also been invited to consult with Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Committees and criminal justice system policy makers, both domestically and internationally, and to give presentations on his research and innocence work to a host of other specialist conferences and events. This includes giving invited written and oral evidence on his research to the UK Parliamentary Justice Committee, two invited presentations in the UK House of Commons, consultancy to the Law Commission for England and Wales, an invited presentation to the US. Department of Justice in Washington D.C., as well as several other invited consultations and conference presentations in the United States, China, Armenia, Italy, Norway, Canada, and several in Ireland (click here for details).
These activities have contributed to several major reforms at home and abroad, including reforms to the prison rules on the treatment of prisoners maintaining innocence and reform of the Attorney General’s guidelines on disclosure and access to evidence post-conviction for alleged victims of wrongful convictions who seek to mount an appeal or make an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). He influenced the Bill for a new right of appeal for alleged victims of wrongful convictions in South Australia. And, he contributed to the consultation for the establishment of a Canadian Criminal Cases Review Commission (click here and here for further details).
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Research is assessed every 6 or 7 years. The REF 2014 was the first exercise to assess the impact of research outside of academia. Almost 7,000 Impact Case Studies were submitted to REF 2014 by universities in the UK. Dr Naughton’s work was submitted by the University of Bristol as an Impact Case Study, ‘Innocence: assisting victims of wrongful imprisonment’, and was one of three which collectively were ranked as 2nd in the UK by the Sociology Panel.
Click here for information on how to contact Dr Naughton.
Important note: Any views expressed on this website do not represent those of Michael Naughton’s employer.