NEWS

MP Visits the Department of Criminology

Edward Garnier MP for Harborough and Shadow Minister for Justice visits the Department of Criminology.

On Friday 21 November 2008 the Shadow Minister for Justice and local MP for Harborough, Edward Garnier, dropped in for an informal meeting with members of staff from the Department of Criminology. Those present included: Professor Carol Hedderman, Professor Yvonne Jewkes, Reader Mr Adrian Beck and Lecturer Dr Neil Chakraborti.

The meeting considered how policy makers and academic criminologists could work together to ensure that criminal justice policy and practice were more fully informed by the latest research. A number of recently completed and current research projects conducted by members of the Department were discussed including the relationship between the prison population and reoffending, the role of prison architecture in promoting change, rural victimisation and racism, and crimes against business.

Edward Garnier has been the MP for Harborough since the general election in April 1992. He was called to the Bar in 1976 and practises as a defamation and media law specialist from chambers in London. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1995, a Crown Court Recorder in 1998 and a Bencher of the Middle Temple in 2001.

From 1992 to 1994 Edward Garnier was a member of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. From then until the 1997 general election he worked as a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to the Attorney General and Solicitor General, and to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Following the 1997 election when the Conservative Party left office William Hague appointed Edward Garnier Shadow Minister, Lord Chancellor's Department, until 1999 when he became Shadow Attorney General. When Iain Duncan Smith became Leader of the Opposition in September 2001 Edward Garnier stepped down from the Conservative front bench. In 2005 he was appointed Shadow Home Affairs Minister and inn 2007 he was appointed Shadow Minister for Justice.

Head of Department, Professor Carol Hedderman said: “I’m very pleased that Mr Garnier came to see us. As a Department of Criminology we are keen to see our work influence policy and practice locally and nationally so being able to discuss issues of mutual interest with someone who is both a local MP and Shadow Justice Minister was a very useful and interesting experience.”