Lecturer in Law
I am a Criminal Lawyer who sits within youth justice, criminal justice, social justice, criminology, and neurolaw.
My research uses neuroscience and psychology to inform changes in criminal law doctrine and legal practice for developmentally immature children. My main focus is the engagement of these scientific insights with the law to challenge/reform practices and legislation for developmentally immature children who kill.
I completed my PhD at the University of Manchester in 2023. My PhD focused on developmentally immature children, neuroscience, and the defence of diminished responsibility.
I have published peer-reviewed journal articles and books on the relevancy of neuroscience in youth justice, the abolition of the doctrine of doli incapax, and the unfair treatment of developmentally immature children in the English criminal justice system. In 2024, I received a British Academy/Leverhulme grant to fund a project on the police's charging decisions for young offenders. I have been awarded funding from the SLSA and UKRI policy fund.
I also hold an PhD, LLM, LLB, and FHEA recognition.
Teaching and supervision
- Criminal Law (LLB, Level 1)
- Youth and Crime (LLB, Level 2)
- Advanced Legal Skills (LLM)
I also supervise students on the following:
- Legal Research Project (LLM)
- Dissertation (LLM)
- Dissertation (LLB)
Research interests for potential research students
- Youth Justice
- Criminal Law
- Neurolaw
Research
My research is on the English youth justice system with a particular focus on neurolaw, homicide, doctrinal law, legal defences and adolescent brain development.
Publications
Article
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2018) Empowering 16 to 17 Year Olds to Vote: What is Wrong With This Picture? Criminal Law & Justice Weekly, 182. pp. 16-18.
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2018) Young Minds, Old Legal Problems: Can Neuroscience fill the Void? Young Offenders & The Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill—Promise and Perils. Journal of Criminal Law, 82. pp. 311-320.
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2017) Definition of Substantial Impairment in the New Diminished Responsibility Defence. Criminal Law & Justice Weekly, 181 (1). pp. 269-272.
Wishart, Hannah/HW and Johnston, Ed (2016) Special Issue on ‘Criminal Responsibility and Neuroscience’. European Journal of Current Legal Studies, 22 (2).
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2016) Young Minds, Old Legal Problems: Can Neuroscience fill the Void? European Journal of Legal Studies, 22 (2).
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2013) Criminal Culpability, Criminal Attempts and the Erosion of the Choice Theory. Journal of Criminal Law, 77. pp. 78-90.
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2012) Was the Abolition of the Doctrine of Doli Incapax Necessary? United Kingdom Student Law Review, 1 (2). pp. 50-63.
Book Section
Wishart, Hannah/HW and Arthur, Ray (2025) Children’s Rights and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child: Relevancy of Neuroscience in UK Youth Justice. In: International Perspectives of Neuroscience in the Youth Justice Courtroom. Routledge Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice and Procedure . Routledge. ISBN 9781032571133 (In Press)
Wishart, Hannah/HW, Arthur, Ray and Butts, Thomas (2025) Outlining the relationship between the English Youth Justice System and the Developmental Neurobiology of the Human Brain. In: International Perspectives of Neuroscience in the Youth Justice Courtroom. Routledge Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice and Procedure . Routledge. ISBN 9781032571133 (In Press)
Howard, Helen and Wishart, Hannah/HW (2025) Seen and Not Heard’: In Defence of Children, Neuroscience and Effective Participation at Trial. In: International Perspectives of Neuroscience in the Youth Justice Courtroom. Routlegde. ISBN 9781032571133 (In Press)
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2024) Searching for Justice: New Reform – Sentencing of Children//Young People Convicted of Murder. In: Justice Denied: Exploring Inequities in the Legal System. Routledge. (In Press)
Reports, briefing/ working papers
Wishart, Hannah/HW and Langley, Katherine (2023) Prevent, Surveil and Protect: The Fight against terrorism in the UK’ booklet culminating in the work produced by the 1.5 symposium in 2023. Project Report. UNSPECIFIED.
Conference or Workshop Item
Wishart, Hannah/HW and Howard, Helen (2023) Seen and Not Heard: In Defence of Children, Neuroscience and Effective Participation at Trial. In: Seeing and treating neurodiverse individuals in the criminal justice system: international perspectives Symposium, 14 Mar 2024, University of Sunderland. (Unpublished)
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2023) Developmentally Immature Children and Young Persons Who Kill & the Need for a Diminished Responsibility Capacity Defence. In: Faculty of Business, Law and Tourism Annual Conference, Sep 2023, University of Sunderland.
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2023) The Defence of Diminished Responsibility, Developmentally Immature Children and Young People – the Need for Reform. In: SLSA Annual Conference, 04-06 Apr 2023, Ulster University.
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2023) The Defence of Diminished Responsibility, Developmentally Immature Children and Young Persons in England and Wales. In: Law, Society and Vulnerable People research seminar series, Feb 2023, University of Sunderland. (Unpublished)
Wishart, Hannah/HW and Langley, Katherine (2022) Digging at Dobbs – exploring the perspectives on Supreme Court decision and interdisciplinary teaching. In: University of Sunderland Research and Knowledge Exchange Conference, Jan 2023, The Fire Station, Sunderland. (Unpublished)
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2017) Mismatched Legal Distinctions, Adolescent Mens Rea and Immaturity. In: Annual School of Law PGR Conference, University of Manchester, Manchester.
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2017) Mismatched Legal Distinctions, Adolescent Mens Rea and Immaturity. In: Annual British Society of Criminology Conference, Sheffield Hallam University.
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2017) Taking Legal Assumptions about the Responsibility of Adolescents Seriously. In: Annual Socio-Legal Studies Association Conference, Newcastle University.
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2015) Neuroscience, Culpability and the Status of the Adolescent Offender. In: Montreal Neuroethics Conference for Young Researcher, Institute de Recherché Cliniques de Montreal, Canada.
Book
Wishart, Hannah/HW (2025) International Perspectives of Neuroscience in the Youth Justice Courtroom. Routledge Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice and Procedure . Routledge. ISBN 9781032571133 (In Press)
Wishart, Hannah/HW and Berryessa, Colleen (2023) Neurolaw in the Courtroom Comparative Perspectives on Vulnerable Defendants. Routledge Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice and Procedure, 1 . Routledge, London. ISBN 9781032362670 (In Press)
- Homicide law
- Neurolaw
- Youth Justice
- Criminal law