Improving the law reform process: Opportunities for empirical qualitative research?

Authors

Natalia K. Hanley, University of WollongongFollow
Bianca Fileborn, University of Melbourne
Wendy Larcombe, University of Melbourne
Nicola Henry, La Trobe University
Anastasia Powell, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

RIS ID

105675

Publication Details

Hanley, N., Fileborn, B., Larcombe, W., Henry, N. & Powell, A. (2016). Improving the law reform process: Opportunities for empirical qualitative research?. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 49 (4), 546-563.

Abstract

Research on law reform has identified a variety of factors that help or hinder the reform process, but it has not systematically explored the role that empirical research plays and could play in enabling and enhancing law reform. Drawing on a series of qualitative interviews with criminal law reform experts in Victoria, we analyse the current uses and perceived value of empirical research in criminal law reform and explore opportunities for qualitative research methods to be used more systematically or extensively to improve criminal law reform processes and outcomes.