Rachel completed her LLB at the University of Sussex. Minoring in American Studies she participated in a year abroad at UC Berkeley in California. She also completed her LLM at Sussex, specialising in International Criminal Law. Her PhD drew on a range of research topics including criminal justice, criminology comparative criminal law, international criminal law, social media, trial by media and legal history.
Prior to starting at the University of Exeter she was a Lecturer in Law at the Mauritius branch of the University of Aberystwyth. Here she taught a variety of subjects including criminal law, criminology, public law and legal systems.
Her research considers how the courts are engaging with the criminal law at trial (and how this differs from the letter of the law). Currently, she is developing a specialism in the homicide offences. Previously, she has researched the impact of social media on the criminal justice system, in particular how eyewitness footage can alter perceptions of guilt and the role of the defendant, both for domestic trials and trials at the international criminal law level.
Research supervision:
Rachel is willing to supervise students looking to research in criminal law; specifically criminal legal history, criminal proceedure, criminology and perceptions of justice.
