Dr Jon Yorke
Lecturer
in Law
Qualifications
LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD
Profile
Jon joined the School of Law in September 2007 from the University of Warwick, where he completed his PhD entitled, “Sovereignty and the Death Penalty in Europe.” He has worked on death penalty projects in various states of the United States of America and in Commonwealth Africa, and provides training for students and lawyers to undertake capital defence representation internationally. He is a founding member of the Surrey European Law Unit (SELU).
Selected Publications Monograph
Europe and Abolition of the Death Penalty ( Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2010) forthcoming
Edited Collections
Orientations of the Right and Value of Life, ( Aldershot : Ashgate Publishers, 2009) forthcoming
Against the Death Penalty: International Initiatives and Implications, ( Aldershot : Ashgate Publishers, 2008)
Book Chapters
Organ Donation Policies of the European Union and the Council of Europe: An Evolution in the Biopolitics of Procurement, in Jon Yorke (ed) Orientations of the Right and Value of Life, ( Aldershot : Ashgate Publishing, 2009)
The Relationship of Sovereignty and the Death Penalty: A Conundrum for the Council of Europe, in Jon Yorke (ed) Against the Death Penalty: International Initiatives and Implications, ( Aldershot : Ashgate Publishing, 2008)
The European Union Strategy Against the Death Penalty - From Internal Renunciation to a Global Ideology," in V Raghuram (ed), Capital Punishment: Concept and Context, (Icfai University Press, 2008).
Journal Articles
The Right to Life and Abolition of the Death Penalty in the Council of Europe , 34 European Law Review 2, 205-229 (2009)
Book Review: Marie Mulvey-Roberts (ed), Writing for Their Lives: Death Row USA , 19 Amicus Journal (2008)
The Evolving European Union Strategy Against the Death Penalty: From Internal Renunciation to a Global Ideology, Part 1, 16 Amicus Journal (2006) 24; Part Two, 17 Amicus Journal (2007) 26
Frankenstein's Monster: A Review of Recent Literature on the Death Penalty in the United States, 54 International and Comparative Law Quarterly , 4, (2005) 1032
Blanchot, Foucault, Levinas and Derrida: French Philosophy and the Deconstruction of the Death Penalty, 13 Amicus Journal (2005) 28
Europe 's Judicial Inquiry in Extradition Cases: Closing the Door on the Death Penalty, European Law Review , 2004, 29 (4) 546
The Abolition of the Death Penalty for the Mentally Retarded: Is the United States Learning? (2004) Law, Global Development and Social Justice , vol. 1
The Death Penalty in Africa , 8 Amicus Journal (2003) 12
Book Review: Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatisation and Human Rights, (2003) Law, Global Development and Social Justice , vol. 2.
Appointments
Visiting Fellow in Law (June-August 2008), Institute of Medical Law , University of Birmingham
Grants Awarded
Institute of Advanced Studies Grant for SELU Conference 2008
Consultancy
British Institute of International and Comparative Law Project, “Legal Tools for Commonwealth Africa ,” 2003-2005
Affiliations
Death Penalty Internship Trainer
Amicus: Assisting Lawyers for Justice on Death Row
Centre for Human Rights in Practice, University of Warwick
Member of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies
Socio-Legal Studies Association
Areas of Interest
• International and European Human Rights
• Death Penalty Studies including Criminological, Sociological, Political and Philosophical Approaches
• Legal Theory with an Emphasis on Theoretical Approaches to Power, Sovereignty and Law
• Medical Law and Ethics as Applied in the United Kingdom and Europe
• Comparative Constitutional Law including the United Kingdom , the United States of America and South Africa
Academic Papers Presented
‘The Evolving European Union Strategy Against the Death Penalty,' After the First Fifty Years: The Future of European Law and Policy, Conference on European Law and Policy, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, 3-4 July, 2008
‘Sovereignty, Power and the Death Penalty in Europe: A Critique of Human Rights Orthodoxy,' Surrey European Law Unit Seminar Series, 7th November 2007
‘A Deconstruction of the Homo Sacer and the European Strategy Against the Death Penalty,' 17 May, 2006, Warwick Law School Staff Seminar Series, Warwick Law School , University of Warwick
‘Towards a Coherent European Union Strategy Against the Death Penalty,' 20 April, 2006, UACES Student Forum, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
‘Extradition, Terrorism and the Death Penalty in Africa,' 12 May, 2004, British Institute of International and Comparative Law Conference, The Application of the Death Penalty in Commonwealth Africa, School of Law, Makere University, Kampala, Uganda
‘The Application of the Death Penalty in Africa: Current Controversies,' 17 April 2004, Birkbeck Law School Conference, The Anthropology of Law, Birkbeck Law School , the University of London
Public Lectures: Amnesty International
Using the Social Contract Theory to Arrive at a Concept of Human Rights: Case Study: John Rawls's, "A Theory of Justice," 25 April, 2006, AI Bournville, Friends Meeting House, Bournville, Birmingham , UK .
Worldwide Controversies in the Death Penalty, 11 February, 2005, AI Bournville, Friends Meeting House, Bournville, Birmingham , UK .
Modules Taught
Medical Law
Public Law
PhD Supervision
I welcome thesis proposals engaging with my areas of interest indicated above.
