Dr. Matthew Wilkinson addresses researchers on the Penology Masters at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge

By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson

15 July 2015. Dr. Matthew Wilkinson addressed c.50 Masters researchers who were also senior prison officers and civil servants under the auspices of the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge on the topic Complementary partners or competing alternatives? English Law, Islamic Shari’a and Serious Crime.

The talk identified the noxious absences and malign presences that combine to generate vulnerability to crime in a minority of young British Muslims and showed how an appeal to the shared core principles and jurisprudential features of English Law and the Islamic Shari’a can call young Muslims to a creative tradition of lawfulness in Islam.

The talk stimulated a timely and much-needed discussion about the relationship of the Islamic Shari’a to the principles and institutions of English Law.