Policy Press

Justice, law and human rights

There is no uniform adoption and application of an international set of rules upholding what is ‘right’ to protect society’s most vulnerable.

Disparities exist within and between countries; killings and enforced disappearances of human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists persist despite international scrutiny and condemnation; unsecured rights for ethnic minorities, marginalised peoples, the young and the differently abled all illustrate that there is little room for complacency within the arenas of law and justice.

Addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities and Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, our publishing in this area examines how the law is responding, or failing to respond, to these issues in a global context.

Bristol University Press and Policy Press are signed up to the UN SDG Publishers Compact. In Justice, law and human rights, we aim to address the following goals:

SDG Publishers compact logoSDG 10: Reduced inequalitiesSDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

Showing 109-120 of 201 items.

The Legal Aid Market

Challenges for Publicly Funded Immigration and Asylum Legal Representation

Presenting a rare picture of the barristers, solicitors and caseworkers practising immigration law in charities and private firms, this book offers fresh thinking on what has gone wrong in the legal aid market. In doing so, this book examines supply and demand, challenges existing legal aid policy and proposes insights for steps forward.

Policy Press

Rethinking Value Chains

Tackling the Challenges of Global Capitalism

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This original volume brings together academics and activists from Europe to think creatively about the social and environmental imbalances of global production and how to reform the current economic system.

Policy Press

Pandemic Legalities

Legal Responses to COVID-19 – Justice and Social Responsibility

Edited by Dave Cowan and Ann Mumford

This important text maps out ways in which the disadvantaged have been affected by legal responses to COVID-19. Contributors tackle issues including virtual trials, adult social care, racism, tax and spending, education and more. Offering an account of the damage, this book demonstrates positive and productive future responses.

Bristol Uni Press

Philosophy Behind Bars

Growth and Development in Prison

Male prisons can be dangerous places with a climate of distrust, but can long-term prisoners be given the space to reflect and grow ? This ground-breaking study found that engaging prisoners in philosophy education enabled them to think about some of the ‘big’ questions in life and as a result to see themselves and others differently.

Bristol Uni Press

Religion and Marriage Law

The Need for Reform

Successive governments have made progressive, but ad hoc reforms to marriage law in Britain. This book provides the first accessible guide to how contemporary marriage law interacts with religion. It reveals the need for the consolidation, modernisation and reform of marriage law and sets out proposals for transformation.

Bristol Uni Press

A Watershed Moment for Social Policy and Human Rights?

Where Next for the UK Post-COVID

This book demonstrates that an alternative approach to social policy, based on human rights and social justice, is necessary to tackle the existing systemic inequalities brought to the foreground by COVID-19.

Policy Press

Justice in a Time of Austerity

Stories From a System in Crisis

Dan Newman and Jon Robins combine investigative journalism and academic scholarship to examine how the lives of people suffering problems with benefits, debt, family, housing and immigration are made harder by cuts to the civil justice system.

Bristol Uni Press

Sex/Gender and Self-Determination

Policy Developments in Law, Health and Pedagogical Contexts

This book presents a poignant account of the current policy approaches to self-determining sex and gender in the UK and beyond, showing how legal, medical and pedagogical policy developments are interconnected, and how policy is affected by transgender and diverse gender experiences and activism.

Policy Press

Criminal Justice and the Pursuit of Truth

Can the criminal justice system achieve justice based on its ability to determine the truth? This book investigates the concept of truth and scrutinises how well the criminal justice process facilitates truth-finding. It bridges the gap between what people expect from the justice system and what it can legitimately deliver.

Bristol Uni Press

Critical Reflections on Women, Family, Crime and Justice

Drawing on research from the Women, Family, Crime and Justice research network, this collection sheds new light on the experiences of women and families who encounter the UK criminal justice system. Contributions demonstrate how these groups are often ignored, oppressed and victimised, and offer insights and practical recommendations for change.

Policy Press

Reimagining Black Art and Criminology

A New Criminological Imagination

Martin Glynn explores the relevance black artistic contributions have for understanding crime and justice. Through art forms including black crime fiction, black theatre and black music, this book brings attention to marginalized perspectives within mainstream criminology.

Bristol Uni Press

Adoption from Care

International Perspectives on Children’s Rights, Family Preservation and State Intervention

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND. This book explores how children’s rights are weighed against parents’ rights in a range of countries, and examines how governments and legal and welfare professionals balance those rights following the decision that children cannot grow up in their parents’ care.

Policy Press