Scottish Feminist Judgments Project presents on art and innovation in justice at RebLaw 2019
Wed 13 February 2019
Dr Chloë Kennedy and Professor Sharon Cowan took part in a panel at the Rebellious Lawyering Conference on Saturday 9th February.
The second Scottish RebLaw conference, held at the University of Glasgow, saw Chloë Kennedy and Sharon Cowan of the Edinburgh Law School representing the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project on a panel discussing ‘innovative approaches to obtaining justice for victims of sexual crimes’. They were joined on the panel by Sandy Brindley, Chief Executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, and Sarah Crawford, Senior Associate at JustRight Scotland and head of its Scottish Women’s Rights Centre.
In their presentation, Dr Kennedy and Professor Cowan took the examples of the poetry of Jay Whittaker, produced as part of the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project, and award-winning play ‘It’s True, It’s True, It’s True’, to highlight the potential of art to give voice to victims of sexual violence. The presentation suggested that art can make individual stories more visible, generate empathy, and offer public recognition of victims’ harm(s), which may lead to legal benefits such as higher conviction rates for sex offences.
The RebLaw conference acts as a forum for discussing rebellious lawyering, and exploring how law can be used as a tool for social justice. Last week’s programme touched on topics such as the gig economy and workers’ rights, migration rights, and the right to quality housing.