Laura Hoyano
Hackney Fellow & Tutor in Law and CUF Lecturer
On sabbatical leave this term.
Laura Hoyano graduated from the University of Alberta in Canada with two degrees in medieval history before being converted to law, receiving a JD (Gold Medallist) from the University of Alberta. She was called to the Alberta Bar in 1983 and practised commercial, insurance and catastrophic personal injury law for 10 years, interrupted by a sabbatical year in 1990-91 to read for the B.C.L. at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1994 she decided to return to academic life, moving to England to accept an academic appointment at the Law Faculty of the University of Bristol. In 1999 she was elected to a Tutorial Fellowship and CUF Lectureship at Wadham College in Oxford, where she teaches Tort Law, European Human Rights, Medical Law and Ethics and Evidence. In 2009 she was elected as a Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, with an advisory role concerning the enhancement of diversity at the English Bar. She has conducted empirical research for the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office on prosecutorial decision making and on child abuse prosecutions. She chairs the Independent Advisory Committee on Child Maltreatment convened by Action for Children, which drafted a new offence of child maltreatment which is currently before Parliament. In December 2012 she was invited by the Verma Committee on Amendments to the Criminal Law, appointed as a consequence of the furore sparked by a gang rape and murder in December 2012, to advise them on reform of substantive sexual assault offences for adults, children and other vulnerable persons, and a range of issues pertaining to more effective trials of such offences, including special measures for vulnerable witnesses, her contribution being acknowledged in the Report and in the national press conference held by Chief Justice Verma. She has recently been consulted by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies and the NSPCC with regard to their enquiries into the investigation of sexual abuse allegations against Jimmy Savile. She is also frequently consulted by the Ministry of Justice, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Criminal Bar Association on a range of issues relating to child abuse and exploitation prosecutions.
Publications
Showing five recent publications sorted by year, then title [change this]
2013
Laura Hoyano and Dr Eileen Vizard, 'Child Defendants and Neuroscience' (2013) (forthcoming) [...]
This article will explore recent developments in neuroscience which show that the normal adolescent brain does not fully develop in its capacity to appreciate consequences and assume full responsibility for conduct until many years past the age of criminal responsibility, currently 10 in England and Wales. The article will advocate that England and Wales should move to the Scottish Children's Hearing System, which offers an integrated service to offending children who are deemed to be children in need to address their offending behaviour and its root causes without criminalisation.
Dr Emily Henderson, Professor Fred Seymour and Laura Hoyano, 'Expert Witnesses under Adversarial Examination in the Criminal and Family Courts' (2013) (forthcoming) [...]
This is an empirical research project funded by the New Zealand law foundation, examining how child protection experts experience the adversarial criminal trial system as compared with the more inquisitorial family court system,and the factors which inhibit them from choosing to become involved in expert testimony work. The Nuffield Foundation has invited the researchers to resubmit a funding proposal for a companion study of UK experts, which we will probably do following the conclusion of the New Zealand study, which should result in at least one Journal article.
Nicholas Bamforth and Laura Hoyano, Human Rights Law and Principles in the United Kingdom (OUP 2013) (forthcoming) [...]
This Textbook, designed for postgraduates andsenior undergraduates, will provide an accessible but intellectually rigorous text book which addresses how human rights issues are configured and adjudicated in the specific British context, exploring the multiple dimensions of the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Union, international law, and national legislation and common law, and an introduction to human rights theory , integrating this into the legal analysis.
2012
R Taylor and Laura Hoyano, 'Criminal Child Maltreatment: the Case for Reform' (2012) 2012 Sweet & Maxwell, Criminal Law Review 871 [...]
The current offence of child cruelty in the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (CYPA) originates in 1868. This article contends that it is not fit for its purpose, particularly given new understanding of the neurological and developmental impairments inflicted by neglect and emotional abuse. It should be replaced by a comprehensive maltreatment offence which is comprehensible to criminal and civil child protection agencies, professionals and the public.
Laura Hoyano and HHJ Johanna Cutts QC, 'Special Measures and Anonymity Orders to Facilitate Testimony by Witnesses and Defendants' in Lord Justice Hooper and Prof David Ormerod (eds), Blackstone’s Criminal Practice 2013 (OUP 2012) (forthcoming) [...]
This is a substantial rewrite of the section D4 of Blackstone’s Criminal Practice 2012, which was written as a new chapter of the book.
Interests
Teaching: Criminal Law; Evidence; Tort; Medical Law and Ethics; Human Rights Law
Research: Tort Law, Evidence, Human Rights, Medical Law & Ethics, Criminal Law
