Legal Perspectives on State Power (PDF)

The issue of consent and criminal law commonly focuses on consent in sports, sexual activity, and medical treatment. The notion of consent and the influence of state control in this context, however, are pervasive throughout the criminal justice process from the pre-trial stage to rehabilitation. This edited collection charts an important and original pathway to understanding these important issues, pre-, during, and post-trial, from a range of perspectives, including doctrinal, socio-legal, intersectional, medico-legal, feminist, critical legal, and queer theoretical viewpoints. The collection addresses the complex inter-relationship between consent and state control in relation to private authorisation and public censure; sexual behaviour; the age of consent; queering consent; Pro-LGBTI Refugee cases; rape by fraud; male rape; undercover policing; prisons and consent; compulsory treatment for sex offenders; sex offenders with high functioning autism and the suitability of sex offender treatment programmes; and, the criminalisation of HIV transmission. This multi-disciplinary approach draws together a variety of experts from legal and medical academia and practice in order to confront the issues raised by these subjects, which are likely to remain controversial and in need of reform for years to come.