Professor John Baldwin

Birmingham Law School
Emeritus Professor of Judicial Administration

Contact details

Telephone: 0121 414 3637 (reception)
Email: j.baldwin@bham.ac.uk

Address: Birmingham Law School
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

John Baldwin was Head of Birmingham Law School between August 2003 and August 2006. He was the Director of the Institute of Judicial Administration for over twenty years following his appointment in 1982. He was an Assistant Head of School with responsibility for coordinating research within the Birmingham Law School between 2001 and 2003. His main teaching interests have been in the area of criminal justice, penal policy, and socio-legal studies. His best known research includes studies of pre-trial criminal procedures (particularly prosecution processes, plea negotiation and police interrogation), trial by jury and small claims procedures. He has published over a dozen books and numerous articles in academic journals on these themes during the last thirty years. Most of his research has been empirical in character, and it has received a good deal of media attention and is widely cited in the academic literature.

Qualifications

BSocSc
DipCrim
PhD

Postgraduate supervision

Criminal justice
Access to justice
Small claims procedures
Civil enforcement procedures
The administration of justice in courts and tribunals
Judicial administration

Current doctoral students

Professor Baldwin is currently supervising two doctoral students undertaking research in the following areas:

The comparative development of mediation
An examination of judicial tendancies in prisoner security categorisation cases (MJur)
An exploration of the effectiveness of local authority regulation of the taxi trade

Find out more - our PhD Law page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Other activities

Professor Baldwin has delivered hundreds of conference papers, lectures and seminars in this country and throughout the world. He has been a member of the Editorial Boards of a number of academic journals, and still sits on the Editorial Board of the Criminal Law Review and the Civil Justice Quarterly. In 1998, he was appointed by the Lord Chancellor's Department to a sub-committee to advise the Civil Justice Council on enforcement procedures in the civil courts. The recommendations made by this sub-committee were incorporated into a Green Paper and a White Paper which led to the 2007 Courts and Tribunals Act. In 2005, he submitted evidence to the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee on small claims and this was published in the Committee’s report, The Courts: Small Claims (2005). In 2009, Professor Baldwin, in collaboration with Professor Paolo Caretti (University of Florence) and Professor Pasquale De Sena (University of Naples), carried out an assessment of a number of Italian research institutes under the auspices of the Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche. (2005). In 2009, Professor Baldwin, in collaboration with Professor Paolo Caretti (University of Florence) and Professor Pasquale De Sena (University of Naples), carried out an assessment of a number of Italian research institutes under the auspices of the Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche.

Publications

Selected Publications:

J Baldwin (and A E Bottoms), The Urban Criminal London: Tavistock (1976). London: Tavistock (1976).
J Baldwin (and M J McConville), Negotiated Justice London: Martin Robertson (1977). London: Martin Robertson (1977).
J Baldwin (and M J McConville), Jury Trials Oxford: Clarendon Press (1979). Oxford: Clarendon Press (1979).
J Baldwin (and M J McConville), Confessions in Crown Court Trials London: H.M.S.O. (1980). London: H.M.S.O. (1980).
J Baldwin (and M J McConville), Courts, Prosecution, and Conviction Oxford: Oxford University Press (1981). Oxford: Oxford University Press (1981).
J Baldwin, Pre-Trial Justice Oxford: Basil Blackwell (1985). Oxford: Basil Blackwell (1985).
J Baldwin (and N Wikeley and R Young), Judging Social Security Oxford: Clarendon Press (1992). Oxford: Clarendon Press (1992).
J Baldwin, The Conduct of Police Investigations London: H.M.S.O. (1992). London: H.M.S.O. (1992).
J Baldwin, Small Claims in County Courts in England and Wales: The Bargain Basement of Civil Justice? Oxford: Clarendon Press (1997). Oxford: Clarendon Press (1997).
J Baldwin, Monitoring the Rise of the Small Claims Limit: Litigants' Experiences of Different Forms of Adjudication London: Lord Chancellor's Department (1997). London: Lord Chancellor's Department (1997).
J Baldwin, Lay and Judicial Perspectives on the Expansion of the Small Claims Regime London: Lord Chancellor's Department Research Series 8/02 (2002). London: Lord Chancellor's Department Research Series 8/02 (2002).
J Baldwin, Evaluating the Effectiveness of Enforcement Procedures in Undefended Claims in the Civil Courts, London: Lord Chancellor's Department Research Series 3/03 (2003). , London: Lord Chancellor's Department Research Series 3/03 (2003).
J Baldwin (and G Davies), ‘Empirical Research in Law’ in P Cane and M Tushnet (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Legal Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2003). , Oxford: Oxford University Press (2003).
J Baldwin, ‘Is There a Limit to the Expansion of Small Claims?’ in M D A Freeman (ed), Current Legal Problems, Oxford University Press (2003). , Oxford University Press (2003).
J Baldwin (and J Vennard, G Davis and J Pearce), Ethnic Minority Magistrates' Experience of the Role and of the Court Environment London: Department for Constitutional Affairs Research Series 3/04 (2004). London: Department for Constitutional Affairs Research Series 3/04 (2004).