On Abolitionism: Crime and Consequences, Mark Dsouza (UCL) in Conversation with Alan Norrie (Warwick) at Queen Mary University of London, In-person and Online (22 Oct 2026)

The Criminal Justice Centre (CJC) of the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, hosts an evening of discussion on abolitionism with Associate Professor Mark Dsouza (UCL) in conversation with Professor Alan Norrie (University of Warwick).

The event takes place on Thursday 22 October 2026, 6 pm to 8 pm UK time (10:30 pm to 12:30 am IST, that is, running past midnight into 23 October in India), in Room 313, Laws Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End, and online. The Eventbrite listing gives the format as Online and In-person.

Does the state have the legitimate authority to punish for crimes? The session takes up this foundational and relatively underexplored question. Mark Dsouza argues that none of the handful of existing defences of the state's authority to punish convince, and adapts the Razian argument on the state's authority to issue peremptory legal guidance: the state's ability to respond coercively to crime depends on convincing enough of its subjects that accepting its coercive responses to criminality will help them lead the flourishing lives they genuinely and enduringly desire.

Drawing on recent criminological literature, he suggests that the state must eschew paradigmatic forms of punishment and instead (a) help offenders, coercively if necessary, take responsibility for and address their criminality without letting it define them, and (b) offer victims help in coming to terms with the trauma of victimisation.

• Mark Dsouza, Associate Professor in Criminal Law at UCL, works on the theory and philosophy of criminal law. He is the author of Rationale-Based Defences in Criminal Law (Hart Publishing, 2017) and won the Society of Legal Scholars' 2020 Best Paper award for 'Beyond Acts and Omissions: Remark-able Criminal Conduct'.
• Alan Norrie, Professor of Law at the University of Warwick, works on the critical and historical analysis of criminal law. His recent book, Rethinking Criminal Justice: Punishment, Abolition and Moral Psychology (Cambridge University Press, 2025), argues for a deep, tendential abolitionism in relation to violative relations and penal theory.

Registration is open on the organiser's public Eventbrite listing, with no eligibility restriction stated. The session is offered both in person in London and online.

Free. Tickets on the organiser's Eventbrite listing are priced at GBP 0.

Register for in-person or online attendance on the organiser's Eventbrite page. Ticket sales close at 6 pm UK time on 21 October 2026, which is 10:30 pm IST on 21 October 2026. For queries, email k.leader@qmul.ac.uk.