Overview

I am a Professor of Comparative Legal History and Legal Theory.

My research is on the 'dark side' of law and democracy and covers two main areas:

1. The comparative legal history of criminal law and criminal justice under Fascism in Italy and liberal democracy in Great Britain during the 1920s-1940s. My work explores the development, interpretation and intersection of criminal law provisions in these two systems and their implications for subsequent understanding of the rule of law, authoritarian law, and the idea of Europe's common legal heritage.

2. State accountability for the use of lethal force in domestic policing and law enforcement, including the legal and theoretical implications of the right to life under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and practical evaluation of the extent to which states around the world gather and disseminate data about lethal force.

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Research

My research engages with historical, theoretical and substantive questions about state power, the rule of law and the nature of fascism, authoritarianism and democracy. My current work is focused on two areas:

1. Criminal law and criminal justice under Fascism and democracy in the twentieth century

This branch of my research involves exploring the ideological and contextual origins, substantive development and interpretation of criminal law under Italian Fascism in comparative perspective. This work has included investigating how the 1930 Italian Penal Code (the Rocco Code) was received in contemporaneous academic commentary in Europe and the USA, and the extent to which political offences in the 1930 Rocco Code can be compared with equivalent provisions in Great Britain during the interwar period, in order to examine what differentiates or connects criminal law across divergent political systems. This research involves questions of criminal law, criminal justice, political and legal theory, history and historiography.

I have published various articles on this research (see my publications list) and have edited two collections of essays on criminal law under Italian Fascism, National Socialism and other authoritarian regimes.

The first collection, Fascism and Criminal Law: History, Theory, Continuity (Hart, 2015) includes a range of papers about the Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Brazilian and Japanese experiences of authoritarian criminal law.

The second collection, Ideology and Criminal Law: Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes (Hart, 2019) explores the ‘anti-democratic’ and other ideological dimensions at the heart of these politico-legal orders’ conceptualization and formulation of criminal law, as well as critical and comparative perspectives on the role of criminal justice in political repression. Based on a workshop that I convened at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London in September 2015, this collection includes essays on Italian Fascism, National Socialism in Germany and occupied Norway, Franco's regime in Spain, and the authoritarian regimes in Brazil, South Africa, Romania and Japan.

2. State accountability for lethal force in policing and law enforcement

This aspect of my research focuses on processes of state accountability for the use of lethal force in domestic policing and law enforcement operations. This has involved work on how the use of lethal force is regulated under Article 2 (the right to life) of the ECHR, and the connections among lethal force, human rights law and European democracy, which are central to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in this area. This research involves substantive analysis of the development of ECHR law on lethal force under Article 2, critical and theoretical reflection on Article 2 law and its fundamental values, as well as engagement with the contextual and socio-political significance of the state’s resort to lethal force. I am currently involved in a wider, collaborative and international project on states' collection and dissemination of data about deaths connected with law enforcement activities worldwide.

I have published a number of articles on this research (see my publications list) and a monograph, Lethal Force, the Right to Life and the ECHR: Narratives of Death and Democracy (Hart, 2019).

The current research on monitoring state accountability for deaths connected with law enforcement is outlined on the project website, the Lethal Force Monitor.

International connections

I am a member of various international research bodies including:

- the international scientific committee of the Centre for the History of Criminal Justice (Centro per la Storia della Giustizia Criminale) run by the Universities of Bologna, Modena, Ferrara, Milano Bicocca, Benevento and Foggia.

- the international advisory committee of the University of Macerata's Quaderno di storia del penale e della giustizia.

- the European Society for Comparative Legal History.

- the American Historical Association.

Research group links

• Bracton Centre for Legal History Research (BCLHR)
• Human Rights and Democracy Forum
• Centre for Political Thought

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Projects

• A Lethal Force Monitor: Next Steps - funded by: Open Society Foundations
• Toward a Lethal Force Monitor: Enhancing State Accountability for Loss of Life in Law Enforcement - funded by: Open Society Foundations
• The Fascist Roots of the Italian Penal Code: Fascist Law and Contemporary Commentary in Comparative Perspective - funded by: British Academy

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Supervision

I would be pleased to hear from prospective postgraduates considering research relating to my main areas of interest, namely comparative, historical and theoretical aspects of criminal law and criminal justice under democratic, fascist or authoritarian systems; political crime and criminalisation; and the state's use of lethal force in policing and law enforcement. I would also be interested in research projects relating more generally to criminal law (contemporary, historical, comparative or domestic questions) or theoretical questions about law and political systems. Proposed research in these areas could involve doctrinal, comparative, historical, theoretical or interdisciplinary methods.

Research students

I am currently involved in supervising doctoral research on human rights law and religious freedom, and on law, artistic freedom and political liberty. I have recently supervised two PhDs to successful completion (both in 2022), one on human rights law and theory relating to prisoners' rights, and the other on an empirical and theoretical analysis of legal gender recognition. I have previously supervised interdisciplinary PhD research on theories of culture and criminal responsibility (Exeter), and on criminal responsibility and identity in graphic fiction (Exeter), as well as MPhil research on domestic violence in criminal law and criminal justice (Aberystwyth). I have examined doctoral work on a critical and historical reading of law and politics under Romanian communism (Paris, La Sorbonne), domestic violence (Exeter), theories of mens rea in the criminal law of England and Wales (Exeter), police use of 'less lethal' weapons technology (Sociology, Exeter), and on English and Welsh legal history (Aberystwyth).

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Publications

_{Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.}

| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2000 |

2022

• Skinner S. (2022) Inciting Military Disaffection in Interwar Britain and Fascist Italy: Security, Crime and Authoritarian Law, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, volume 42, pages 578-605, DOI:10.1093/ojls/gqab036.
• Skinner S. (2022) Identifying Dangers to Democracy: Fascism, the Rule of Law and the Relevance of History, Judicial Independence Under Threat, Oxford University Press/ British Academy, 160-178.

2021

• Gandhi D, Heyns C, Maslen S, Orao B, Oyakhirome IL, Probert T, Adang O, De Paepe J, Easton M, Dymond A. (2021) Towards a Lethal Force Monitor.
• Rappert B, Adang O, Daillère A, De Paepe J, Dymond A, Easton M, Skinner S. (2021) Police Lethal Force and Accountability: Monitoring Deaths in Western Europe.

2020

• Skinner S. (2020) Fascista de Nome, Fascista por Natureza? O Código Penal Italiano de 1930 em Comentários Acadêmicos, 1928-46 [translation], História do Direito Penal: Confins entre Direito Penal e Política na Modernidade Jurídica (Brasil e Europa), Habitus, 183-214.

2019

• Skinner SJ. (2019) Introduction: Glancing in the Mirror at Ideology and Criminal Law Under Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes, Ideology and Criminal Law: Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes, Hart.
• Skinner SJ. (2019) Criminal Law and the Use of Force: Ideology and State Power in Fascist Italy and England in the Interwar Period, Ideology and Criminal Law: Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes, Hart, 299-320.
• Skinner SJ. (2019) Conclusion: Investigating Ideology and Criminal Law in Legal History, Ideology and Criminal Law: Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes, Hart.
• Skinner S. (2019) Ideology and Criminal Law: Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes, Hart.
• Skinner SJ. (2019) Lethal Force, the Right to Life and the ECHR: Narratives of Death and Democracy, Hart publishing, DOI:10.5040/9781509995349.

2015

• Skinner SJ. (2015) Crimes Against the State and the Intersection of Fascism and Democracy in the 1920s-30s: Vilification, Seditious Libel and the Limits of Legality, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, volume 36, no. 3, pages 482-504, DOI:10.1093/ojls/gqv034.
• Skinner SJ. (2015) Fascism and Criminal Law: History, Theory, Continuity, Hart.

2014

• Skinner SJ. (2014) Deference, Proportionality and the Margin of Appreciation in Lethal Force Case Law under Article 2 ECHR, European Human Rights Law Review, no. 1, pages 32-38.

2013

• Skinner SJ. (2013) Violence in Fascist Criminal Law Discourse: War, Repression and Anti-Democracy, International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, volume 26, no. 2, pages 439-458, DOI:10.1007/s11196-012-9296-3.

2011

• Skinner SJ. (2011) The Right to Life, Democracy and State Responsibility in ‘Urban Guerilla’ Conflict: the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber Judgment in Giuliani and Gaggio v. Italy, Human Rights Law Review, volume 11, no. 3, pages 567-577.
• Skinner SJ. (2011) Tainted Law? The Italian Penal Code, Fascism and Democracy, International Journal of Law in Context, volume 7, no. 4, pages 423-446.

2010

• Skinner SJ. (2010) Obscurity, Apophasis, and the Critical Imagination: The Unsayable in "Heart of Darkness", Conradiana, volume 42, no. 1-2, pages 93-106.
• Skinner SJ. (2010) Case analysis - Giuliani and Gaggio v Italy: the Context of Violence, the Right to Life and Democratic Values, European Human Rights Law Review, no. 1, pages 85-93.

2009

• Skinner SJ. (2009) Stories of Pain and the Pursuit of Justice: Law, Violence, Experience and Jurisprudence, Law, Culture and the Humanities, volume 5, pages 131-155.

2008

• Skinner SJ. (2008) Review Article: “Kieran Dolin, A Critical Introduction to Law and Literature”, International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, volume 21, pages 161-168.
• Skinner SJ. (2008) Everything is Dislocated: Reading (Dis)connections in Joseph Conrad and Theories of Justice and Violence, Legal Studies, volume 28, pages 591-609.

2007

• Skinner SJ. (2007) ’As a Glow Brings out a Haze’: Understanding Violence in Jurisprudence and Joseph Conrad’s Fiction, Legal Studies, volume 27, pages 465-485.

2005

• Skinner SJ. (2005) Populist Politics and Shooting Burglars: Comparative Comments on the Lega Nord’s Proposal to Reform Italian Self-Defence Law, Criminal Law Review, pages 275-284.

2004

• Skinner SJ. (2004) L’impact du Human Rights Act 1998 sur le droit de la legitime defense en Angleterre, Revue de Science Criminelle et de Droit Penal Compare, volume 2, pages 283-294.

2003

• Skinner SJ. (2003) Death in Genoa: The G8 Summit Shooting and the Right to Life, European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, volume 11, pages 233-252.
• Skinner SJ. (2003) A Benevolent Institution for the Suppression of Evil? Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent and the Limits of Policing, Journal of Law and Society, volume 30, pages 420-440.

2002

• Skinner SJ. (2002) The Third Pillar Treaty Provisions on Police Co-operation: Has the EU Bitten Off More Than It Can Chew?, Columbia Journal of European Law, volume 8, pages 203-220.

2000

• Skinner SJ. (2000) Citizens in Uniform: Public Defence, Reasonableness and Human Rights, Public Law, pages 266-281.
• Skinner SJ. (2000) Blackstone’s Support for the Militia, American Journal of Legal History, volume 44, pages 1-18.

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External impact and engagement

My work on state accountability for police use of lethal force involves engagement with international academic partners, NGOs and police oversight bodies around the world.

In 2022-23 I am involved in an international project entitled 'A Lethal Force Monitor: Next Steps', funded by the Open Society Foundations. This project is intended to develop an online lethal force monitor to provide information about how states record and publicise information about deaths resulting from or connected with law enforcement and security operations. The project is led by Professor Brian Rappert (Sociology) and two co-investigators, Dr Abi Dymond (Criminology) and myself (Law). It is a collaborative project with partners at the University of Ghent, Belgium, the Police Academy of the Netherlands, the University of Pretoria, South Africa and the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The monitor will include reports on jurisdictions around the world, including Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

In 2019-21 I was involved in the international project that laid the groundwork for the above project. Entitled 'Toward a Lethal Force Monitor: Enhancing State Accountability for Loss of Life in Law Enforcement', this earlier project was also funded by the Open Society Foundations with additional support from the Oak Foundation. The project was co-ordinated by Professor Brian Rappert (Sociology) and two co-investigators, Dr Abi Dymond (Criminology) and myself (Law), with partners from Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The project focused on current processes for recording and disseminating data about deaths resulting from or related to police uses of force. The project produced a report, Police Lethal Force and Accountability: Monitoring Deaths in Western Europe. The project was expanded to include work on monitoring processes in Kenya and South Africa, and on how future international co-operation in this field might be developed. This led to a second report, Toward a Lethal Force Monitor. Further information and both reports are available on the project website.

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Teaching

Modules taught

• LAW2155 - Jurisprudence
• LAW3155 - Law, Politics and Power
• LAW3186 - Law, Politics and Power
• LAWM686 - Approaches to Research in Law (ESRC)

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Biography

Professional qualifications:

• Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy and University of Exeter ASPIRE programme, 2016

Principal academic qualifications:

• PhD, European University Institute, Florence, 1998
• LLB (Hons), University of Warwick, 1992

Career background:

• Professor, University of Exeter, 2020
• Associate Professor, University of Exeter, 2016-2020
• Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter, 2007-2016
• Lecturer, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1998-2000 and 2004-2007
• Lecturer, University of Warwick, 2000-2003
• Jean Monnet Research Fellow, European University Institute, 2002-2003

Languages:

French and Italian (fluent); Romanian (fair); Spanish (read).

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