Guest Lecture with Assoc Prof Clare Torrible of Bristol School of Law

You're invited to a Guest Lecture

Associate Professor Clare Torrible, Bristol School of Law,

University of Bristol

Reimagining Police Accountability around Axis of Accountability: exposing policy choices and inviting transformation.

Police accountability systems embody practical, political, and constitutional choices the underlying ethos of which can be masked by rhetoric, and indeterminacy of key terms such as ‘public confidence’. This paper introduces a new analytical framework that creates space for transformation by facilitating greater scrutiny of that underlying ethos.

The framework reimagines police accountability structures around three axis: Conduct, Cultural and Constitutional. The Conduct Axis invites greater emphasis on the lived experience of the policed by focusing on the practical impact of a reform on officers’ day to day conduct (e.g the extent to which it my encourage de-escalation or promote peremptory use of force). The Cultural Axis insists that the ongoing evidence regarding the cultural and structural determinants of police culture (for example institutional racism and misogyny) is foregrounded in policy decisions. The Constitutional Axis draws attention to subtle transfers of autonomy to police institutions that shield them from meaningful constitutional oversight. Plotting accountability systems and proposed reforms along each Axis and noting where they intersect exposes the selective use of evidence, and the value assumptions that underpin policymakers’ decisions. The increased clarity and transparency this provides facilitates more focused demands for justification of those policy choices while simultaneously encouraging broader visions for alternative accountability structures. This presentation is part of a research collaboration between Associate Professor Torrible and Dr Justin Ellis on police use of surveillance technologies, its impact on public perceptions of policing institutions in democracies, and funded by a University of Bristol 2026 Benjamin Meaker Award. 

Date:          Wednesday 18 November 2026

Time:          12.00pm

                    Light lunch will be served after lecture.

Location:   University of Newcastle, NUspace Building – Room X202

                    409 Hunter Street, Newcastle 2300

RSVP:          By close of business Monday 16 November 2026 — don't miss out!

This guest lecture is co-sponsored by the University of Newcastle School of Law and Justice Centre for Law and Social Justice, and the University of Newcastle Centre for the Study of Violence. 

Associate Professor Clare Torrible 

Associate Professor Torrible’s research focuses on the legal structures of police governance and accountability and their impact on police legitimacy. Her published work includes doctrinal, theoretical and empirical analysis leading to conceptual and practical impact in a range of areas, including police complaints, police stop and search, trust in the police and police use of technology.