Research Interests
- Criminal law (doctrine and theory)
- The philosophical foundations of state punishment
- Sentencing
- Transitional justice
- Human rights and criminal justice
Dr Antje du Bois-Pedain
Dr Antje du Bois-Pedain is Director of Studies in Law for Law Tripos Part IB, and LLM and MCL students at Magdalene. She is a Reader in Criminal Law and Philosophy in the Faculty of Law and Deputy Director of the Centre for Penal Theory and Penal Ethics in the Institute of Criminology.
Dr du Bois-Pedain has been teaching in Cambridge since 2001 and became a fellow of Magdalene College in 2004. In the Faculty of Law, she lectures Criminal Law and teaches an undergraduate seminar on Ethics and the Criminal Law. She also for many years taught an LLM paper on Philosophy of Criminal Law. In her capacity as Deputy Director of the Centre for Penal Theory and Penal Ethics in the Institute of Criminology, she has conducted research projects on Criminal Law and the Authority of the State and on Penal Censure, and is currently engaged in a project on Beccarian legacies for contemporary criminal justice.
Dr du Bois-Pedain studied law in Germany (First and Second State Examinations in Law, Hamburg, grades “gut”) and holds a first-class M.Jur degree from the University of Oxford. Before coming to Cambridge, she was a full-time researcher on a transitional justice project at the Humboldt University in Berlin, where she was awarded her doctorate “summa cum laude” for a thesis analysing the amnesty process conducted as part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s activities in South Africa.
Selected Publications
Transitional Amnesty in South Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007/2011), xxvi + 391 pp. [ISBN 978-0-52187-829-9 (hardback); 978-1-10740-401-4 (paperback)].
Reviewed in: (2008) 18 Law & Politics 582-586 (James L. Gibson): “a ‘must’ for anyone who seeks to understand the transitional justice process in South Africa. … this … research will long stand as the definitive statement of how the South African amnesty process operated and unfolded”; (2008) 83 Die Friedens-Warte: Journal of International Peace and Organisation 118-120 (Simon M. Meisenberg); (2008) 24 South African Journal on Human Rights 180-186 (Tshepo Madlingozi): “a comprehensive framing of issues and debates in the field of transitional amnesties ...a must-read for policy makers, consultants, academics and activists”; (2009) 42 Verfassung und Recht in Übersee: Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America 295-298 (HO Yusuf); (2009) 3 International Constitutional Law Journal 55-58 (Caroline Kerschbaumer); (2009) 7 Historische Literatur 501-502 (Ulf Engels): “the fullest academic analysis of the TRC process to date”; (2009) Periplus: Jahrbuch für aussereuropäische Geschichte 204-207 (Rita Schäfer); (2009) 22 South African Journal of Criminal Justice 419-432 (AJ Barnard; review article): “a magisterial new work”; (2009) 18 Social & Legal Studies 561-564 (Claire Moon): “a finely detailed and comprehensive close-up of South Africa’s amnesty process … ‘Transitional Amnesty in South Africa’ deserves to be, and will undoubtedly become, a touchstone text in the field.” (reviewed together with Justice and Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa); (2009) ASIL Newsletter Issue 39 (May 2009): “an incredibly well-written and supported account of a nation’s struggle to achieve a just remedy … No human rights course, no International Law course, and no legal or university library would be near complete without this riveting …assessment of the transitional amnesty that was considered to be the best alternative for addressing the many wounds wrought by Apartheid.”) (2010) 10 International Criminal Law Review 137-140 (Colin Murray). Cited in: Constitutional Court of South Africa, Case CCT 91/08, Du Toit v. Minister for Safety and Security and others.
Criminal Law and the Authority of the State (edited with Magnus Ulväng and Petter Asp) (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2017), vii + 245 pp. [ISBN 978-1-50990-513-3]
Liberal Criminal Theory: Essays for Andreas von Hirsch (edited with A.P. Simester and Ulfrid Neumann) (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2014/2016), xxix + 375 pp. [ISBN 978-1-84946-514-4 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-50991-387-9 (paperback)]
Reviewed by: Douglas Husak, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Online: “The novice is unlikely to recognize the level of sophistication this book contains...Liberal Criminal Theory is an outstanding collection of papers that pay tribute to a great and important scholar. Every single article is worth reading…the contributors to this volume comprise a ‘who’s who’ of famous legal philosophers in the United Kingdom and the European continent”; Gilles Renaud, (2015) 19 Canadian Criminal Law Review 395-398: “Il s’agit d’une source fort utile de questions à débattre et, surtout, de réponses possibles à ces questions vexantes quant au choix de la peine”; Kai Ambos (review article, forthcoming Goltdammer’s Archiv für Strafrecht).
Justice and Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa (edited with François du Bois) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), xii + 322 pp. [ISBN 978-0-52188-205-7]
Reviewed in: (2009) 18 Social & Legal Studies 561-564 (Claire Moon; reviewed together with Transitional Amnesty in South Africa); (2009) 28 South African Journal of Philosophy 259-260 (Patrick Lenta); (2010) 21 European Journal of International Law 246-249 (Mia Swart), (2010) Tydskrif vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg 873-876 (David Bilchitz): “the book is well-structured and provides a range of illuminating responses to some of the most pressing questions faced in the context of transitional justice”; (2010) 4 International Journal of Transitional Justice 509-518 (Cyril Adonis; reviewed together with three other books on politics in South Africa): “enriches the debate on whether justice is a precondition for reconciliation and how it can be secured in postconflict societies”; (2010) 55 Historia 171-173 (Craig Paterson): “a thought out, ‘well rounded’, book … which stands in its own right, each chapter building on the last to create a sense of closure when the book is completed … the editors deserve special mention for this”; (2011) 40 Philosophical Papers 149-154 (Colleen Murphy); (2011) 11 Human Rights Law Review 595-600 (Lucy Allais): “[a] fascinating volume, which will undoubtably be an essential reference for those working on reconciliation and transitional justice”.
Freedom and Responsibility in Reproductive Choice (co-editor, with J.R. Spencer) (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2006), xxxiii + 201 pp. [ISBN 978-1-84113-582-3]
Reviewed in: (2007) 12 European Human Rights Law Review 203-205 (Emily Jackson); (2007) 15 Feminist Legal Studies 367 (Julie McCandless); (2007) 8 Medical Law International 193 (Sarah Elliston), (2007) 123 Law Quarterly Review 322-325 (Emily Jackson): “an engaging and thought-provoking collection. …[T]he editors and contributors should be congratulated for producing a valuable addition to the burgeoning literature on reproductive choice”; (2008) 17 Social & Legal Studies 409-410 (Ilke Ozdemir): “an important and stimulating book”.