Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
I joined the Law School in 1995 and was promoted to Professor in 2012.
I am a socio-legal scholar working across issues relating to law and gender and sexuality. Researchers investigating the legal regulation of commercial sex place my publications amongst the primary reference works in the field.
My work has influenced both academic and policy debate and law reform. My publications include original theoretical expositions in books and internationally peer-refereed journals as well as ground-breaking national and international empirical studies. This work has been funded by government, the ESRC, The British Academy and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, amongst others.
With colleagues, I recently undertook the largest study of internet-based sex work and its regulation, in the ESRC-funded project 'Beyond the Gaze' [2015-2018]. Among the project’s publications, which included a monograph and numerous articles, was the winner of the SLSA Best Article Prize in 2020: 'Beyond the Gaze and Well Beyond Wolfenden: The Practices and Rationalities of Regulating and Policing Sex Work in the Digital Age 2019 Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 46, Issue 2, pp. 211-239.
I am currently the Principal Investigator on an ESRC-funded project ‘Sex work and Sexual Violence (2021-23) which explores how socio-legal contexts shape the experiences of sexual violence among people engaging in sex work. Working with international colleagues, we will be comparing experiences across four different legal environments: legalisation (Nevada USA), criminalisation (Northern Ireland), decriminalisation (New Zealand) and partial criminalisation (Great Britain):
I have been a Visiting Scholar at New York University and at the University of Stockholm, where I researched the Swedish law relating to prostitution. I served as a member of the Scottish Parliament's Expert Panel on Prostitution and continue to advise policy in this area. I served on the Management Committee and co-chaired the scientific programme on 'Prostitution Policies and Politics' in the COST European research network IS1209: Comparing European Prostitution Policies: Understanding Scales and Cultures of Governance (2013-2017).
I teach in the areas of Legal Theory and Law and Society and am the Law School's Research Director.
Expertise & Capabilities
- Socio-legal studies
- Law and society
- Gender and law
- Prostitution policy and politics
Teaching Interests
I have taught across a range of subjects on the LLB, BA and at post-graduate level and also have extensive experience of supervising Honours dissertations, LLMs and PhDs. I teach on the following courses:
- Legal Theory
- Legal Process
- Law and Society
- Gender, Sexuality and Law
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Master of Laws, University of London
Award Date: 1 Jan 1995
Bachelor of Laws, University of Strathclyde
Award Date: 1 Jan 1994
External positions
Adjunct Professor, Queensland University of Technology
1 Sept 2019 → 1 Sept 2022
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Regulating the spaces of sex work: assessing the impact of prostitution law
Scoular, J. (Co-investigator), Hubbard, J. (Principal Investigator) & Matthews, R. (Co-investigator)
Project: Research
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Understanding Sexual Violence in Sex Working Populations: Law, Legal Consciousness and Legal Practice in Four Countries
Scoular, J. (Principal Investigator)
ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council)
1/07/21 → 31/12/24
Project: Research
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Troubling decriminalization: a genealogy of prostitution decriminalization in New South Wales
Scott, J. & Scoular, J., 1 May 2024, In: Radical History Review. 2024, 149, p. 200-217 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Understanding sexual violence in sex working populations - law, legal consciousness and legal practice in four countries (2021–2023): study protocol v2.5
Scoular, J., Sanders, T., Balderston, S., Abel, G., Brents, B., Ellison, G. & Marriott, N., 9 Nov 2023, In: PLoS ONE. 18, 11, 18 p., e0283067.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile23 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Understanding Sexual Violence in Sex Working Populations: Aggregate Survey Data, 2023
Scoular, J. (Creator), Sanders, T. (Creator), Brents, B. (Creator), Abel, G. (Creator), Ellison, G. (Creator), Balderston, S. (Creator) & Wakefield , C. (Creator), UK Data Service , 8 Oct 2024
Dataset
Prizes
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SLSA Best Article Prize 2020
Scoular, J. (Recipient), 4 Apr 2020
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
File
Activities
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Queensland University of Technology
Scoular, J. (Visiting researcher)
2019Activity: Visiting an external institution types › Visiting an external academic institution
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Queensland University of Technology
Scoular, J. (Visiting researcher)
2019 → …Activity: Visiting an external institution types › Visiting an external academic institution
Impacts
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Law reform leads to increased protection for victims of domestic abuse
Scoular, J. (Participant), Cavanagh, K. (Participant) & Connelly, C. (Participant)
Impact: Impact - for External Portal › Policy and legislation, Quality of life and safety