Personal statement
I joined the Law School as a lecturer in 1999, from the University of Paisley, where I had been teaching since 1997, having obtained degrees from Glasgow University (LLB) and McGill University, Montreal, Canada (LLM). I worked for Dundas & Wilson CS, from 1989 until 1993, first as a trainee then as a qualified solicitor. I have been a Reader since 2013. I teach primarily in the area of Criminal Law and this, together with childhood and crime, also constitutes my main research interest. I was a member of the children’s panel for the City of Glasgow from 1996 until 2006. I am currently the Associate Dean (Postgraduate Research) and the Head of the Graduate School for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Teaching
My main teaching interest is in Criminal Law which I have taught at all levels (pass degree; honours and masters). I have also recently created and developed an LLM/MSc module in Childhood and Crime. I have extensive experience of dissertation supervision at honours, masters and PhD level. In 2009, Claire received a teaching excellence certificate from the Strathclyde Students’ Union.
Research interests
My research interests are focussed in the areas of children who offend and in criminal law. I have worked extensively on the age of criminal responsibility and on aspects of the Scottish children’s hearings system. I have a particular interest in the criminal capacity of the child and in the difficulty for law in dealing with child-criminals – individuals who are, simultaneously, vulnerable and in need of protection as children and, also, offenders. The relationship between concepts of childhood and criminal law is also important in this context. I have a monograph in these areas: Childhood and Crime (Dundee University Press: 2007) and I have recently published a piece in a special edition of Youth Justice on the age of criminal responsibility.
In criminal law, I have a general interest in all areas of Scots Criminal Law with a focus on homicide. I have published on the partial defence of provocation and the mens rea of murder I am currently working on a second edition of Scots Criminal Law: A Critical Analysis (1st ed: Dundee University Press, 2009) with Professor Pamela Ferguson of the University of Dundee.
Professional activities
- contemporary childhoods conference: Scotland's Children: Possible Futures?
- Speaker
- 5/9/2014
- Central Law Training: The Criminal Law Conference - June 2014
- Contributor
- 16/6/2014
- Gerald Gordon Seminar on Crimina
- Invited speaker
- 12/6/2014
- Examiner in Scots Criminal Law
- External Examiner
- 1/1/2013
- External Examiner in Criminal Law
- External Examiner
- 1/10/2011
more professional activities
Projects
- The Public Interest and the Child’s Best Interests: Jointly-Reported Children in Scotland
- McDiarmid, Claire (Principal Investigator)
- Period 01-Oct-2016 - 31-Dec-2017
- AHRC - Doctoral Training Partnership Scotland | Gavin, Mhairi
- Piacentini, Laura (Principal Investigator) McDiarmid, Claire (Co-investigator) Gavin, Mhairi (Research Co-investigator)
- Period 01-Oct-2014 - 01-Jan-2018
more projects
