Log in
The ill-treatment of prisoners is a deep-rooted issue in several countries of Eastern Europe, with incidents of coercion and torture frequently appearing before the European Court of Human Rights. Professor Jim Murdoch's fact-finding missions to the Ukraine and Georgia on behalf of the European Union and the Council of Europe have resulted in changes to legislation, regulatory structures and procedural frameworks in the Ukraine and Georgia. Additionally, the reports produced by Professor Murdoch and his colleagues led to a €700,000 training programme affecting more than 7,000 judges, prosecutors, investigators and lawyers across the Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova.
Professors Carolyn Hoyle and Roger Hood have, since 1988, carried out wide-ranging comparative research in Oxford on the death penalty. Their work has had impact in several countries, including Trinidad, India, Uganda, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Most recently, it is acknowledged as having contributed to reforms of the death penalty in China, the main case discussed here. In February 2011, China abolished the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes, thereby reducing the number of crimes punishable by death from 68 to 55. Various influences shaped these changes, and in a society where access to academic work is highly restricted, the influence of most foreign research inevitably has been minimal. The comparative studies undertaken by Hood and Hoyle, however, are a remarkable exception. The only work of its kind to have been translated, published, and widely disseminated in China, it provided a unique resource and body of evidence, and was used not only by emergent civil society groups, but also in official Chinese circles, including the judiciary. The impact of their research in China extends the existing worldwide influence of their research.