Dr Elizabeth Shaw

Biography

Elizabeth Shaw received her LLM by research (on the topic of the criminal responsibility of psychopaths) and LLB from Aberdeen University and undertook her PhD at Edinburgh University on the implications of free will scepticism for the criminal justice system. Her research interests are interdisciplinary, involving criminal law, philosophy and neuroscience. She is a co-editor of Free Will Skepticism in Law and Society (Cambridge University Press, 2019) https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/free-will-skepticism-in-law-and-society/3B87F746DF411A00EBE4C2AF7E270760, and The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Punishment (Routledge, 2021) https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-the-Philosophy-and-Science-of-Punishment/Focquaert-Shaw-Waller/p/book/9780367553654 . She is the author of Punishment and Moral Uncertainty: Seeking Convergence on Criminal Justice (Cambridge University Press 2026) https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/punishment-and-moral-uncertainty/7022F376DCB940410DBEAC6C76168756 . She is currently working on her book The Ethics of Crime-Preventing Neurointerventions. She is a co-director of the Justice Without Retribution Network: http://www.justicewithoutretribution.com/home.html 

Research Overview

• moral enhancement
• criminal responsibility
• free will
• theories of punishment
• criminal law
• moral uncertainty

Teaching Responsibilities

Criminal Law Honours (co-ordinator)

Criminal Law LLM (co-ordinator)

Criminology Honours (co-ordinator)

Criminological Theories LLM (co-ordinator)

English Criminal Law Ordinary (co-ordinator)

Core Skills for Research Students (temporary, joint co-ordinator)