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JP Fassnidge

@drfassnidge.bsky.social

750 followers 590 following 73 posts

Lecturer in Criminal Law & Criminal Justice University of Aberdeen | British-Chilean | Criminal law theory and practice, philosophy + other fun stuff! Views my own.

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JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · Aug 15

In case you haven't had the chance to see it yet, and since I hadn't posted it to BlueSky yet, here is my latest publication in @clphjournal.bsky.social, "Criminalisation as a Speech-Act: Saying through Criminalising", available open access here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Criminalisation as a Speech-Act: Saying Through Criminalising - Criminal Law and Philosophy

The act of criminalising conduct has been understood by many theorists as a form of communication. This paper proposes a model, based on speech-act theory, for understanding how that act of communicat...

link.springer.com

Reposted by JP Fassnidge

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 9d

Migrants already "earn the right to settlement" through extortionate visa costs, which can run into tens of thousands of pounds. They prop up key services, including through the Immigration Health Surcharge.

Pushing the hostile environment on steroids helps no-one.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mahmood demands migrants earn right to settlement in UK

New tests will include learning English to a high standard, paying National Insurance and not claiming benefits.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 10d

The quickest way to finish an article is to start it. It also helps if you can stay away from social media, tv and the internet. And your cell phone. And other people. You should also fight urges to clean and organise spaces, and to cook big meals.

In other words, it’s difficult to finish articles.

A monk is seated, working on a manuscript. He is writing in a book and the writing appears to be horizontal lines.

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James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 12d

An in memoriam piece by @fionaleverick.bsky.social and me for the incomparable Sir Gerald Gordon, who died last week at the age of 96: www.uofgschooloflaw.co.uk/blog/2025/9/...

Sir Gerald Gordon CBE KC LLD HonFRSE: in memoriam — University of Glasgow School of Law Blog

Sir Gerald Gordon, who died recently at the age of 96, made an extraordinary contribution to the criminal law of Scotland during his lifetime. Born and educated in Glasgow, where he graduated in philo...

www.uofgschooloflaw.co.uk

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Hrafn Asgeirsson @hrafnasgeirsson.bsky.social · 15d

More hiring at Surrey Law School! Open-area Lecturer position (Research & Teaching) - deadline Thu 2 October 2025. THE POSITION IS GENUINELY OPEN re: research focus, so all interested parties should apply.

Please circulate to anyone you think might be interested!

jobs.surrey.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

Job Vacancy at the University of Surrey: Lecturer B in Law

Surrey Law School is committed to undertaking original, outstanding scholarship, and to delivering innovative, engaging teaching. The 2025 National Student Survey placed the school in the top 16 in th...

jobs.surrey.ac.uk

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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 15d

This is a great piece (and if you are staff or a student at a British university, you might find you can log in to the FT through shibboleth etc…)

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 16d

We need more in-depth reporting on UK university finances like this. Research , research funding and their relation to teaching and teaching funding could do with a similar level of detail. Here's a sharing link for 3 non-subscribers: on.ft.com/3ImSMWa

The shadow economy behind the international student boom

A lucrative revenue stream for universities has led to an industry of unregulated agents now under scrutiny for making lofty promises

www.ft.com

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

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Mark Dsouza @markedsouza1.bsky.social · 21d

With Matt Dyson (Oxford), Rachel Tolley (Cambridge), & Paul Jarvis (Criminal Bar Association), I will host the next Assize Seminar in Criminal Law at UCL Laws on 7 Nov. Speakers include: @jonathanherring.bsky.social, Jessica Corsi, Findlay Stark. Info + (free) tickets: www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...

Assize Seminar – Cutting Edge Criminal Law

organised by Mark Dsouza (UCL), Matthew Dyson (Oxford, Chair), Paul Jarvis (CBA) and Rachel Clement Tolley (Cambridge)

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Reposted by JP Fassnidge

Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research @thesccjr.bsky.social · 23d

Textbook Launch Event🚀

Join us for this in-person event @edinburghnapier.bsky.social on 7 Oct 3-5pm where we bring together a range of voices to reflect on where Scottish criminal justice is and where it's going.

Register your place now 👇
bit.ly/criminal-jus...

The launch of 'Criminal Justice in Scotland' textbook

This event offers an opportunity to bring a range of voices together to reflect on where Scottish criminal justice is and where it's going.

bit.ly

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JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · 29d

It was an absolute pleasure, and I’m very excited to see the final product in due course. See you in the next one! 😉

Reposted by JP Fassnidge

University of Oxford @ox.ac.uk · Sep 4

NEW: An Oxford report warns that misleading media coverage is shaping public debate on immigration and human rights.

The study finds the ECHR is frequently misreported in deportation cases, fueling misconceptions that erode trust in the legal system.

🧵 [1/8]

Silhouettes of three people in front of a weathered British flag, with the headline: Misrepresentations around human rights and immigration fuelling calls to quit ECHR, Oxford report finds

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · Sep 3

Ooh we've opened our call for small research grants. £10k for any humanities or social sciences research. Open to independent scholars. We use partial randomisation to allocate the funding: random allocation between all that meet the quality threshold
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/ba-l...

British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants

The BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. These awards, up to £10,000 in value and tenable for up to 24 months, are provi...

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk

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JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · Sep 1

A new CfA from the VCLG for Spring 2026! If you fancy an engaging discussion of your work with a constructive group (if I do say so myself), please do join us. Looking forward to seeing your work! 🤓

Virtual Criminal Law Group @vclg.bsky.social · Sep 1

Call for Abstracts for the Spring 2026 seminar series. Details in the image, and we hope to hear from you with your abstracts by 10 October. Please circulate widely and feel free to contact us with any questions. See you online!

Call for Abstracts - Virtual Criminal Law Group Spring Series 2026
We are pleased to announce that we are opening our call for abstracts for the VCLG Spring Series.
We welcome submissions from researchers across topics related to criminal law theory and practice, criminal procedure, and criminal justice, broadly construed. We welcome submissions from a variety of career stages, including ECRs and PGRs.
Our seminars will run at 3-4:30 pm GMT on alternating Wednesdays (dates TBD, between January and March). Seminars are pre-read and we circulate papers one week in advance. The seminar itself will include a very brief (5-10 minute) introduction by speakers, followed by Q&A. We normally meet over Zoom, with one hybrid session in each series.
If you are interested in presenting with us, please email an abstract (500w max) to vclgscotland@gmail.com by 10 October. We will respond in due course after the call closes.

JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · Aug 30

Special thanks to @simgans.bsky.social for great feedback on my first chapter, and to all the wonderful people in the Institute more widely, including @marthe.bsky.social with whom we finally were able to meet in person after all these years - long overdue and looking forward to the next one! 😁

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JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · Aug 30

After a month and a half as a visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg, I leave with great memories, renewed friendships, and an almost complete manuscript draft for my book. Thanks to @phirsch.bsky.social and everyone in the Criminal Law Theory Research Group for a wonderful time!

The cloudy but still sunny city skyline of Freiburg from the Schlossberg, with the Münster as the main building in view.

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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · Aug 27

I considered writing a long carefully constructed argument laying out the harms and limitations of AI, but instead I wrote about being a hater. Only humans can be haters.

I Am An AI Hater

I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.

anthonymoser.github.io

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Virtual Criminal Law Group @vclg.bsky.social · Jul 25

We exist on social media now! We look forward to keeping you posted on our events, our calls for abstracts, and general research news from members of our group. Follow us and we hope to see you online at our events!

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JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · Jun 27

Looks like it was a lovely celebration! Glad to see lots of familiar faces and smiles all around 😊

Reposted by JP Fassnidge

Scottish Legal Aid Board @scotslegalaid.bsky.social · Jun 5

Do you have demonstrated ability to make decisions and capacity to absorb information with a common-sense approach? Join the CQAS to uphold professional standards and develop your skills and professional insight of criminal legal assistance.
🔗https://bit.ly/SolQCAS

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JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · May 25

Congrats to the Dons, great effort! Maybe the Hibs will do better next season, but I’m also happy to see the Dons doing well. Well done!

Aberdeen FC @afc.co.uk · May 24

ABERDEEN FOOTBALL CLUB.

2024/25 SCOTTISH CUP WINNERS!!

JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · May 23

This genuinely looks like a reasonable state for a desk where active research is happening. Also, what a great collection! 😍

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JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · May 18

Show us your writing process in a gif

JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · May 13

Completely flabbergasted 🫠

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · May 13

43% of England's universities in financial distress.

Foreign students contribute £42bn to UK economy.

Govt making it harder to recruit foreign students, now reducing the time graduates can stay in the UK.

Will impose a foreign student tax on universities.

Own goal.
archive.ph/kNEdX

Universities face tax on foreign students under immigration rules

An immigration white paper, unveiled by Sir Keir Starmer, proposes overseas graduates be forced to return home after 18 months unless they find a skilled job

www.thetimes.com

JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · May 9

Great first day in York at the first @clphjournal.bsky.social conference. Lively discussions, an amazing crowd of criminal law theory scholars, and so many opportunities to learn about everyone’s thought-provoking work. More this afternoon and tomorrow! 🥳🤓

Reposted by JP Fassnidge

Erica (she/her) 🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️⚧️ @transnormative.bsky.social · Apr 16

This is a horrifying ruling, but in practical terms, where they think they're injecting clarity, they're creating additional confusion.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Legal definition of woman is based on biological sex, UK supreme court rules

Judges say Equality Act definition excludes transgender women, after gender-critical campaigners’ challenge

www.theguardian.com

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JP Fassnidge @drfassnidge.bsky.social · Mar 19

A great hybrid session of the Virtual Criminal Law Group with @mattmatravers.bsky.social in Edinburgh, speaking about public nuisance offences and their rationales. Lovely to see friends and to have such a great discussion!

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