Associate Professor Julia Davis

Dr Julia Davis joined the Law School in 2008 after 13 years of teaching and research experience at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the Faculty of Law at the University of Tasmania where she taught Tort Law, Jurisprudence, Sentencing Law and Conflicts (Private International Law). One of her special teaching interests is the use of film technology in assisting student learning.

Dr Davis has a strong commitment to helping students to develop their legal, advocacy and communications skills. She has been recognised many times for her leadership in teaching by the University of Tasmania, culminating in 2006 with the presentation of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence for her innovative teaching practices, her achievements in developing imaginative and creative teaching and learning resources, and for her ability to enthuse, inspire and support her students.

One of Dr Davis’s special interests is the use of film technology in assisting student learning. In 2005 she wrote and produced an interactive DVD package on communication and advocacy skills entitled More Than Words, which is now used in several Australian and international universities. This DVD is supplemented with a complete package of student learning resources to assist student to develop their skills.

In 2007 Dr Davis was commissioned to write an innovative text on Torts as part of a new publishing initiative by Oxford University Press: the Oxford Law Guidebooks. The aim of this book is to combine an exposition of the law with a detailed guide to the essential legal, study and problem solving skills that Torts students need to master for success at Law School.

• Dr Davis has a strong commitment to helping students to develop their legal, advocacy and communications skills. She has been recognised many times for her leadership in teaching by the University of Tasmania, culminating in 2006 with the presentation of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence for her innovative teaching practices, her achievements in developing imaginative and creative teaching and learning resources, and for her ability to enthuse, inspire and support her students.
• One of Dr Davis’s special interests is the use of film technology in assisting student learning. In 2005 she wrote and produced an interactive DVD package on communication and advocacy skills entitled More Than Words, which is now used in several Australian and international universities. This DVD is supplemented with a complete package of student learning resources to assist student to develop their skills.

Dr Davis is a member of the Australasian Law Teachers Association, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology and the Australian Society of Legal Philosophy.

1978: BA - Bachelor of Arts, University of Adelaide.

1997: LLB (Hons)- Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours, awarded the University Medal, University of Tasmania.

2004: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy, University of Tasmania.

• Dr Davis has research interests in three main fields: the theoretical, practical and psychological aspects of sentencing; the philosophy of the criminal law; and the concept of justice. She has published chapters in books and articles based on her research on criminal law theory, sentencing, domestic violence and child sexual abuse in Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Europe. Her most recent publication is a chapter in the new book from Springer published in 2008, entitled Perspectives on Human Dignity: A Conversation, which had its origins in a multi-disciplinary colloquium on human dignity that attracted contributions from philosophers, historians, physicians, lawyers, artists and poets. This chapter ‘Doing Justice to Dignity in the Criminal Law’ presents a model of the criminal wrongdoing that does justice to the elements of welfare, autonomy and dignity and explains how the idea of human dignity can be used to fill out our understanding of the duties that the criminal law imposes on us.
• Dr Davis is also part of a team led by Professor Kate Warner (University of Tasmania) that won a large Criminology Research Council research grant to conduct a Jury Sentencing Survey over the period 2007-2009. The study aims to improve the measurement of public attitudes to sentencing by designing and implementing a jury survey to be administered after guilty verdicts, by giving jurors sentencing information and using the survey results to assist policy makers to respond to informed public opinion with the ultimate goal of improving confidence in the criminal justice system.

PhD Thesis: The Problem of Harm, its Significance in the Criminal Law, and its Role in Sentencing Law, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 486pp (2004)

Julia Davis, ‘Doing Justice to Dignity in the Criminal Law’ in Malpas, J & Lickiss N (eds) Perspectives on Human Dignity, (2007 Springer) 169, ISBN 978-1-4020-6280-3 (HB),

Julia Davis , ‘The Factual Basis of Sentencing’ Chapter 2 in Sentencing in Tasmania, Warner K, with Henning T, Porter D, and Davis J, (The Federation Press, Sydney, 2002) pp 28-48.

Julia Davis , ‘The Science of Sentencing: Measurement Theory and von Hirsch’s New Scales of Justice’ Chapter 15 in Sentencing and Society: International Perspectives, Tata C & Hutton N (eds), (Ashgate, Aldershot, 2002) pp 329-359.

Julia Davis , ‘Scaling Punishments: A Response to von Hirsch’ Chapter 17 in Sentencing and Society: International Perspectives, Tata C & Hutton N (eds), (Ashgate, Aldershot, 2002) pp 366-368.

Julia Davis , ‘Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse: Gender bias in courts dealing with sexual assaults’ in Whitney KL, Flynn MM and Moyle PD, The Criminal Codes, (Law Book Company, Sydney 2000) pp 222-230.

Kate Warner, Julia Davis, Maggie Walter, Rebecca Bradfield and Rachel Vermey, ‘Gauging Public Opinion on Sentencing: can asking jurors help?’ (2009) 371 Trends and Issues in Criminal Justice ISSN 0817-8542, Australian Institute of Criminology, CRC grant no 04/06-07

Julia Davis, ‘Forbidding Dwarf Tossing: Defending Dignity or Discrimination Based on Size?’ (2006) 9 Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence 238. ISSN 1174-4243

Julia Davis , ‘Sentencing, and the Psychology of Justice’ (2007) 32 (3) Alternative Law Journal 144. ISSN 1037-969X

Julia Davis , ‘Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse: Should the Courts Abandon the Welfare Approach to Sentencing?’ (1998) 27 University of Western Australia Law Review pp 227-247.

‘Book Review: Effective Legal Research’ (1998) Journal of Law and Information Science pp 130-133.

‘Book Review: LDL Online 1998’ – Computer Assisted Legal Research’ (1998) Journal of Law and Information Science pp 258-261.

‘Judicial Reasoning and the 'Just World Delusion': Using the psychology of justice to evaluate legal judgements’ Judicial Reasoning: Art or Science Conference, National Judicial College, Australian National University, Canberra, 7-8 February 2009

‘Asking Juries about Sentence: a sentencing case study on ‘Teen Bash Mum’ Paper presented to the ANZSOC Conference November 2008, Canberra.

‘Talking to Juries about Punishment: A new way to gauge public opinion and inform the public’ Paper to the Sentencing Conference 2008 Canberra 8-10 February 2007

‘Sentencing and Psychology’ Paper presented to the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Conference, Adelaide, 25 September 2008

‘Responding to Plagiarism: a Justice Case Study’ Teaching Matters Conference, University of Tasmania, 22 November 2006

‘More Than Words’: A Film about Communications Skills and Oral Legal Argument’ Australasian Law Teachers Association Conference, Victoria University, Melbourne, July 2006

‘Rethinking Feinberg’s Harm Principle’ Australian Society of Legal Philosophy Annual Conference, University of Auckland, NZ, June 2006

‘Teaching Generic Graduate Attributes in Undergraduate Programs’ Teaching Matters Conference, University of Tasmania, Hobart, November 2005 (with Chris Burke, Gino Dal Pont, Julia Davis, Colin Jones, Louise Wallis)

‘Visualising the Verbal’ Teaching Matters Conference, University of Tasmania, November 2005

‘Forbidding Dwarf Tossing: Defending Dignity or Discrimination Based on Size?’ Australasian Law Teachers Association Conference, University of Waikato, Hamilton NZ, July 2005

‘On the Job with Plato, Nat Young and Thorpey: Teaching Legal Method to Students who Know no Law’ Australasian Law Teachers Association Conference, University of Waikato, Hamilton NZ, July 2005

‘Doing Justice to Dignity in the Criminal Law’ International Dignity Colloquium, University of Tasmania, Hobart, December 2004

‘Fault or Forgiveness: The Politics of Punishment in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure’ Second International Conference on Sentencing and Society, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, June 2002

‘Measurement Theory and von Hirsch’s New Scales of Justice’ Sentencing and Society International Conference, Glasgow, June 1999