Dr JP Fassnidge

Biography

Lecturer in Criminal Law & Criminal Justice at University of Aberdeen since 2023. After moving at a young age from the UK to South America, JP studied his undergraduate degree in law (LLB equivalent) at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado (Chile), and then returned to pursue his postgraduate studies at the University of Edinburgh, where he obtained an LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice in 2018 and his PhD in Law in 2023. 

JP's research and teaching focuses on the criminal law, its theory and practice, and in criminal justice more widely. He is particularly interested in the philosophy of criminal law broadly understood, with a specific interest in criminalisation theory and its metanormative implications. 

Having grown up in Chile and qualified as a lawyer there before returning to the UK for his postgraduate studies, JP has had a unique chance to learn and understand the criminal law from the perspectives of both continental/civil law and common law jurisdictions. He is also interested in interdisciplinary teaching and research, particularly regarding law and philosophy.

Research Overview

Research interests:

Criminal law theory

Criminalisation

Philosophy of Criminal Law

Criminal Justice and Process

Criminal Evidence

Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law

Metaethics and Metanormative Theory

Current Research

JP is working on developing two broad research themes:

- Criminal Law and Metanormative Theory: how our theoretical understanding of how norms and reasons work affect our understanding of criminal law doctrines and institutions.

- Mental States and Evidence: how the different ways in which the mind and mental states are used in the criminal law, and specifically how we provide evidence for them within a criminal process, is affected by our understanding of the brain, the mind and their links to normative contexts and decision-making in assigning meanings to actions.

Collaborations

Virtual Criminal Law Group - Co-organiser, together with Prof Lindsay Farmer (Glasgow), Prof Antony Duff and Prof Sandra Marshall (Stirling), and Ms Kajsa Dinesson (York).

Teaching Responsibilities

JP currently teaches in the following courses:

• Criminal Law (Ord.)
• Criminal Law (Hons.)
• Issues in Criminal Justice (LLM)
• Criminal Evidence & Proof (Hons.)
• Criminal Evidence & Proof (LLM)
• English Criminal Law
• Introduction to Legal Theory