Professor Bernadette McSherry

Research Interests

Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure/Criminal Justice
Criminology
Human Rights
Medical Law
Mental Health and Psychiatry
Mental Health Law
Psychology and Law

Supervisor Profile

Qualified to supervise: Honours; Masters; PhD;

Current projects under supervision

Masters:

Not Guilty? An Analysis of the Practical Consequences of the Crimes (Mental Impairment) and Unfitness to Plead Act 1997 (Vic)
(Co-supervisors: Penny Weller and Christopher Trotter)

Supported decision-making and mental health law
(Co-supervisor: Penny Weller)

Doctoral:

Mental Illness, Rationality and Criminal Responsibility
(Co-supervisor: Dale Smith)

The Doctrine of Extended Common Purpose (SJD Thesis)
(Co-supervisor: Stephen Gray)

Human Cryonic Suspension: A Medico-Legal Analysis of the Current Status and Future Implications of the Development of Human Cryonic Suspension

Lies, Litigation and the Law
(Co-supervisor: Jonathan Clough)

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Mental Health in Australia

Conceptualising Restrictions on Reproductive Freedom as Torture or Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment

Sentencing Offenders with Mental Illnesses: A Principled Approach
(Co-supervisor: Arie Freiberg)

Mental Health Courts in Australia: Problem-solving, Stigma, and the Mentally Ill Offender

The Role of the Law in the Prevention and Remedy of Elder Abuse
(Co-supervisor: Colette Browning)

Patient Participation in Decision Making Pursuant to Mental Health Legislation (SJD Thesis)
(Co-supervisor: Penny Weller)

An evaluation of the legal, ethical & economic costs & benefits of preventative detention of sex offenders
(Co-supervisor: Arie Freiberg)

Editorial Boards

- Co-editor, Legal Issues Column, Journal of Law and Medicine
- Journal of Commonwealth Criminal Law
- International Journal of Forensic Mental Health
- Monash Bioethics Review
- Psychiatry, Psychology and Law
- Psychology, Public Policy and Law

Grants and Commissions

2007-2012 ARC Federation Fellowship ($1.6M)
Rethinking Mental Health Laws: An Integrated Approach.

2007-2009: ARC Discovery Grant ($279,000) [With Patrick Keyzer, Sam Blay, John Petrila, Rajan Darjee]
Preventive Detention of High-Risk Offenders: The Search for Effective and Legitimate Parameters

2005 ARC Discovery Grant ($222,000) [With James Ogloff, John Crichton, Thomas Hadjistavropoulos, Lindsay Thomson] Confidentiality in Therapeutic Relationships: Developing Guidelines for Mental Health Professionals.

2005 ARC Linkage Grant ($143,501) [With Julie Debeljak and Susan Kneebone] Australia's Response to Trafficking in Women: Towards A Model for the Regulation of Forced Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region.

2005 Criminology Research Council ($64,000) [With Arie Freiberg and Patrick Keyzer] Preventive Detention for 'Dangerous' Offenders in Australia: A Critical Analysis and Proposals for Policy Development.

2005 Council of Australasian Tribunals (COAT) ($49,500) [With Pam O'Connor, Peter Sallman, Ian Freckleton and Bill Potter] Tribunal Members' Manual.

2005 Monash University Small Grant ($2000) Mental Health Law and Human Rights.

2002 Australian Research Council Large Grant ($79,453) [With Dr Danuta Mendelson, Livia Iacovino and Moira Paterson] Electronic Health Records: Achieving an Effective and Ethical Legal and Recordkeeping Framework.

2002 Monash University Small Grant ($6,000) Disclosure of Confidential Psychiatric Information: Legal and Ethical Issues.

2002 Strategic Monash University Research Fund ($4,100) The Role of the International Criminal Court in Combatting Terrorism.

2001 Monash University Small Grant ($9,512) Criminal Responsibility and Impaired Consciousness: Legal versus Psychological Concepts.

2001 Criminology Research Council Grant ($45,000) [With Professor Paul Mullen] Risk Assessment by Mental Health Professionals and the Prevention of Future Violent Behaviour.

2000 ARC Small Grant ($5,000) Confidentiality of Psychiatric and Psychological Communications, Dangerousness and the Duty to Warn.

Publications

2011

A number of other publications by Professor McSherry are available on line at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/results.cfm

'Dangerous' People: Policy, Prediction and Practice (with Patrick Keyzer) New York: Routledge, 2011.

"The Preventive Detention of Suspected Terrorists: Better Safe than Sorry?" in Bernadette McSherry and Patrick Keyzer (eds), ‘Dangerous' People: Policy, Prediction and Practice (New York: Routledge, 2011).

"‘Dangerous' People: An Overview" in Bernadette McSherry and Patrick Keyzer (eds), ‘Dangerous' People: Policy, Prediction and Practice (New York: Routledge, 2011) (with Patrick Keyzer).

"Responses to ‘Dangerous' People: Where to From Here?" in Bernadette McSherry and Patrick Keyzer (eds), ‘Dangerous' People: Policy, Prediction and Practice (New York: Routledge, 2011) (with Patrick Keyzer).

"Who do I turn to? Resolving complaints by mental health consumers and carers" (2011) 18(4) Journal of Law and Medicine 669-676 (with Susan Klauber).

"Rethinking our mental health laws" (21 Jun 2011) The Conversation [accessible via http://theconversation.edu.au/rethinking-our-mental-health-laws-1916].

2010

Rethinking Rights-based Mental Health Laws (with Penny Weller) Portland: Hart Publishing.

Principles of Criminal Law (with Simon Bronitt) Sydney: Thomson, 3rd edition.

“Incorporating Carers’ Rights in Mental Health Legislation” (2010) 17 Journal of Law and Medicine 481-486 (with Prasanna Venkataraman).

“Seclusion and Restraint: Rethinking Regulation from a Human Rights Perspective” (2010) 17(3) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 1-11 (with Surabhi Kumble). 

"Diversion Down Under - Programs for Individuals with Mental Illnesses in Australia" (2010) Journal of Law And Psychiatry currently published online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2010.06.007 (with Elizabeth Richardson).

"The Right of Access to Mental Health Care: Voluntary Treatment and the Role of the Law" in B McSherry & P Weller (eds), Rethinking Rights Based Mental Health Laws (Portland: Hart Publishing, 2010).

"Rethinking Rights based Mental Health Laws" in B McSherry & P Weller (eds), Rethinking Rights Based Mental Health Laws (Portland: Hart Publishing, 2010) (with Penny Weller).

Complete listing of publications, including those prior to 2010