Call for Abstracts: Gender and Criminal Law - Global Perspectives & Local Lessons (Leiden, 29-30 January 2027)

The Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology at Leiden University, in collaboration with the Willem Pompe Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology at Utrecht University, is organising an international conference on Gender & Criminal Law on 29 and 30 January 2027. The conference is hosted by Leiden Law School at the Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw in Leiden, the Netherlands, and runs as a fully in-person programme of plenary sessions and parallel panels.

The overarching theme is Gender and Criminal Law: Global Perspectives & Local Lessons - Gendered Perspectives on Criminal Justice. The call is edited by Ellen Gijselaar, Marloes van Noorloos and Mojan Samadi.

Criminal law is an important instrument for defining harm, assigning responsibility and expressing social values, yet it also reflects and reproduces embedded gendered norms. From sexual violence and domestic abuse to reproductive criminalisation, digital harms and the policing of marginalised communities, the relationship between gender and criminal law remains contested and globally significant.

The organisers situate the discussion against international frameworks that increasingly treat gender-based violence as a matter of human rights and state responsibility, including CEDAW, the Istanbul Convention, the Convention of Belem do Para and the Maputo Protocol. The call notes that implementation gaps, political contestation and regional divergence continue to create tension between those commitments and domestic criminal law.

The conference asks how different jurisdictions conceptualise gender-based harm, how race, class, sexuality, disability and migration status intersect with gender in shaping criminalisation and victimisation, and what the promises and limits of criminal law are as a tool for advancing gender justice.

Submissions are invited for the thematic panels running across both conference days. Accepted abstracts will be grouped into panels by the organisers. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Gender-based violence
• Femicide
• Criminalisation of reproductive conduct
• Hate crimes
• LGBTQI+ experiences in criminal justice systems
• Intersectionality and sentencing disparities
• Feminism and vulnerability theory
• Gendered dimensions of policing and prosecution
• Carceral feminism and critiques of punitive approaches
• Restorative and transformative justice models
• Technology-facilitated abuse and digital harms
• (Toxic) masculinity
• Comparative and transnational perspectives

The organisers invite contributions from law, criminology, sociology, political science, gender studies and related disciplines, and state that the conference seeks to gather scholars from across the globe to explore the intersections of gender and criminal law in diverse jurisdictions.

Theoretical, doctrinal, empirical and comparative contributions are all welcome, with encouragement to engage feminist, queer, intersectional, postcolonial and socio-legal perspectives. Submissions from early-career scholars and from underrepresented regions and perspectives are strongly encouraged. Priority will be given to submissions that adopt critical approaches to related concepts and categories, engage with a solid theoretical framework, and are based on empirical research.

An abstract submission must contain:

• Title of the paper
• Abstract of 300 to 500 words, in English
• Name, organisation and institutional email address of the presenter or presenters
• A short biographical note of one page

Abstracts are accepted in English only.

All participants must register at a cost of EUR 125 per person, which covers registration for the two days. Speakers in panels are also required to register, and submitting an abstract does not constitute automatic registration for the conference. Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to complete registration once the registration portal opens, which the organisers say will happen after the review process is complete.

A limited number of partial fee waivers and travel grants are available for participants who would otherwise be unable to attend due to financial constraints. Applicants who wish to be considered should indicate this when submitting their proposal, including whether partial support would be sufficient. The organisers state that such requests will be treated confidentially.

The conference venue is wheelchair accessible and equipped with elevators. Participants with disabilities or specific accessibility requirements are invited to inform the organisers in advance so that arrangements can be made.

Abstracts are submitted through the Leiden University Formdesk portal linked below. The call opened on 30 July 2026 and closes on 31 October 2026, with notification of acceptance on 30 November 2026 and the final programme published in December 2026.

Those who only wish to attend can use the separate pre-registration form to be notified when the registration portal opens. Pre-registration is non-binding and does not constitute formal conference registration.