Ms Amber MarksLecturer in Criminal Law and Evidence and Co-Director of the Criminal Justice CentreEmail: a.marks@qmul.ac.ukTelephone: +44(0) 20 7882 3964Room Number: Mile EndWebsite: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/law/research/research-centres/justice-human-rights/cjc/ProfileTeachingPublicationsPublic EngagementProfileAmber Marks worked as a barrister, civil servant and freelance journalist before joining academia. At Queen Mary she runs a course on Law and Pharmacology and lectures on the Law of Evidence and Criminal Law. Amber also convenes the Law of Evidence at the University of London. Amber is a Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) and a scholar of the Honourable Society of Gray´s Inn, a member of the London Toxicology Group, Criminal Bar Association, Society of Legal Scholars and the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy. Amber is an Expert Reviewer for the European Science Foundation´s Community of Expert Reviewers. Amber regularly contributes legal analyses to parliamentary enquiries and has provided expert advice on drug law and human rights, criminal law, surveillance and forensic science to government departments and NGOs. Amber’s principal area of academic interest is the intersection between science, law (human rights, health law, criminal law and evidence), literature and philosophy. Her research focuses on due process, autonomy, privacy and associated personality rights and on drug regulation, olfactory surveillance, forensic science, and criminal justice technology. Amber has worked towards drug law reform for several years (see her recent submission to the Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry on the scope for legal reform within the international drug conventions). Amber drafted the award-winning Model Drug Law for West Africa which was selected for further funding at the 2019 Paris Peace Form. Amber´s 2019 publication in the ICLQ is the principal reference point for those seeking to understand the legal foundations of Spain´s cannabis clubs and both here and in a book chapter of the same year she argues in favour of a broad rights based conceptualisation of personal consumption/personal drug use. Amber is a long-standing Trustee of RELEASE. Amber´s research on the reliability of forensic expert evidence has been cited in the criminal courts, her co-authored thought pieces on automatic justice and crime control technologies widely cited in academic literature on 'smart' technologies and her humorous memoir on surveillance research praised in the academic journal Surveillance and Society and in the Times Higher Education Supplement for its contributions to the field of criminology. Amber has served on ethical advisory boards to scientific projects funded by the European Commission including NANOSMELL and New Operational Sensing System. Amber has participated in several projects on communicating forensic science to non-scientific audiences and in training workshops for lawyers and judges. In 2012 she co-wrote, co-produced and presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary on the science of smell. Amber has used stand-up comedy to communicate controversial legal issues to lay audiences in a wide range of venues including the literary tents of Latitude Festival, Standon Calling, Bestival and Laugharne. Amber has also written and presented on the law in the printed media and on the radio. She has been a regular contributor to The Guardian, The Register and Wired. Her articles have also appeared in The Times, Prospect and The Register, and she has worked as a columnist on criminal justice for the Big Issue and assistant editor for Benchmark. Amber has made several radio appearances (BBC Radio 4 and 3, Resonance FM, Talksport, Radio New Zealand) to discuss criminal justice and surveillance.Undergraduate Teaching LAW4002 Criminal Law LAW5002 Criminal Law for BA Politics Students LAW6037 Law of Evidence Law6170 Law and Pharmacology ResearchPublications A.Marks and C.Hughes 'The changing tide of drug consumption, supply and drug policy in Oceania' in David R.Bewley-Taylor and Khalid Tinasti (eds.) Research Handbook on International Drug Policy (Edward Elgar, 2020) D.Balding et al (eds.) Twelve Guiding Principles and Recommendations for Dealing with Quantitative Evidence in Criminal Law: For the Use of statisticians, forensic scientists and legal professionals (2017) Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge Marks, A. Defining ‘Personal Consumption’ in legal instruments on drug control’ International and Comparative Law Quarterly , Volume 68, Issue 1, January 2019, pp. 193-223 Marks ‘Legal Perspectives on Drug Trafficking’ in Mitsilegas,V. and Hufnagel, S. (eds.) Research Handbook on Transnational Crime (Edward Elgar, 2019) A.Marks and B.Brown, Evidence (University of London, 2019). This is the textbook for University of London students on the course of Evidence. O.Casals and A.Marks ‘La Rosa Verda: El florecer de los derechos fundamentales en el debate sobre las drogas en España’ (The Green Rose Citizens’ Initiative and the Flourishing of Human Rights in the Drugs Debate in Spain’ in The Paths to Regulation of Cannabis in Spain (Edicions Bellaterra, 2017) Marks, Amber and Bowling, Ben and Keenan, Colman, ‘Automatic Justice? Technology, Crime and Social Control’ R. Brownsword, E. Scotford and K. Yeung (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Law, Regulation and Technology, OUP, 2017; Marks, A et al (2008). 'Crime Control Technologies: Towards an Analytical Framework and Research Agenda.' Regulating Technologies, ed. R. Brownsword, K. Yeung. Oxford: Hart. Marks, A. ‘Expert Evidence of Drug Traces: Relevance, Reliability and the Right to Silence’ Criminal Law Review 2013,10, 810-825; A.Marks, Headspace: Sniffer dogs, Spy Bees and One Woman’s Adventures in the Surveillance Society, Virgin Books, 2008. (Reviewed in Times Higher Education and in Surveillance & Society 7(1): 85-6) Marks A. ‘Drug Detection Dogs and the Growth of Olfactory Surveillance: Beyond the Rule of Law?’ Surveillance & Society Part 1, 4(3):257-271 (2007) Legal Opinions and Briefing Papers and Collaborations with NGOs (2018) West Africa Commission on Drugs, Model Drug Law for West Africa: A Tool for Policymakers (2018) Contribution to the Alan Turing Institute’s Submission to the House of Lords inquiry into Forensic Science in Criminal Justice (2016) Marks, Evidence to the Parliament of Catalonia on the Legal Framework for the Bill to Regulate Associations of Cannabis Consumers (10,000 words) published on the websites of Pensamiento Penal (Argentina) and the Observatorio Civil de Drogas (Spain) (2015) Amicus Curae in the Mexican Supreme Court decision on cannabis clubs in amparo appeal no 237/2014 of Sociedad Mexicana de Autconsumo Responsable y Tolerante, A.C. y Otros. Click here to read the opinion piece. (2015) Submission to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Report on the Psychoactive Substances Bill makes several references to the submission by Amber Marks. Read Amber’s submission. Selected Legal Journalism BBC Radio 4 programme on the Science of Smell, Sniffing out Danger 'Don't Kill Me: Can we trust new weapons that are supposed to be non-lethal?' Prospect, 4 July 2009. 'Smells Suspicious.' The Guardian, 31 March 2008. 'Neuromancing the law: Regulating the techno-regulators'. The Register, 16 April 2007. Criminal Justice and Surveillance Technologies:In 2016 Amber participated in several workshops of the Isaac Newton Institute (e.g. Probability and Statistics in Forensic Science Dissemination workshop ) the final outcome of which is Twelve Guiding Principles and Recommendations for Dealing with Quantitative Evidence in Criminal Law: For the Use of statisticians, forensic scientists and legal professionals (2017)10. One of our recommendations is that ‘law schools should teach sufficient statistical and probabilistic thinking to recognise and avoid common fallacies such as the prosecutor’s fallacy’; it is one we adhere to in the law of evidence undergraduate module. Public Engagement2023 On 19 June, Amber Marks participated in a roundtable of academic experts on drug law and policy at the invitation of the London Drugs Commission (LDC) – an independent endeavour set up by the Mayor of London last year to explore effectiveness of the UK’s drug laws, specifically those relating to cannabis. 2022 Amber's written submission to the Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into Drugs has been published on the Committee´s website. 2021 Amber was a panelist on the DEPC event: "Social Equity 2.0: Expanding Horizons" 2020 Amber provided an overview of legal and ethical issues arising from the quasi-legalisation of cannabis sales at the 28th annual MCLE Training event for United States attorneys 2019 Amber made a presentation on ´Cannabis Associations and Social Clubs: An elegant and UN convention compliant solution?´ at the Nordic Reform Conference, Oslo Participated in ‘Fair Trade Options for The Cannabis Market’, London, UK, 4-5 February 2019 2018 (2018) Lead drafter and researcher for West Africa Commission on Drugs, Model Drug Law for West Africa: A Tool for Policymakers (2018) Contribution to the Alan Turing Institute’s Submission to the House of Lords inquiry into Forensic Science in Criminal Justice Speaker and workshop facilitator at Drug Policy Alliance Workshop on Model Drug Law Legislation, New York (2018) Key note speaker at Expo Weed Mexico, August 2018 La Ley y Las Clubes Sociales –plenary speech on comparative and constitutional law on the cannabis clubs model (in Spanish) at cannabis trade fair legal panel (2018) 2017 Presenter on the Penal Provisions of UN drug control conventions, West Africa Civil Society Institute, Meeting of Expert, Accra, Ghana (2017) Participant in KCL Algorithmic Government Workshops including ‘Big-Data-Driven Decision Making in UK Criminal Justice and Regulation’ (2017) Panellist on the Right to Consume Drugs, Drug Policy Reform Conference, Atlanta, USA (2017) 2016 In 2016 Amber participated in several workshops of the Isaac Newton Institute (e.g. Probability and Statistics in Forensic Science Dissemination workshop ) the final outcome of which is Twelve Guiding Principles and Recommendations for Dealing with Quantitative Evidence in Criminal Law: For the Use of statisticians, forensic scientists and legal professionals (2017) (2016) Marks, Evidence to the Parliament of Catalonia on the Legal Framework for the Bill to Regulate Associations of Cannabis Consumers (10,000 words) published on the websites of Pensamiento Penal (Argentina) and the Observatorio Civil de Drogas (Spain) 2015 House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Report on the Psychoactive Substances Bill makes several references to the submission by Amber Marks. Read text of Amber’s submission. Amber Marks quoted in OZY article 'Italy Blazes a Trail For Legal European Weed', 9 October 2015. Amber Marks spoke at UCL Forum entitled 'Privacy, Secrecy and Surveillance' (from page 12), 22 May 2015. Amber Marks’s case-reports on recent decisions in the Spanish courts and her analysis of attempts by local government to regulate cannabis clubs have been widely reported in the Spanish press, including Canamo and El Pais, March 2015. 2014 Amber was appointed Co-Chair of the Metropolitan Police Service Taser Reference Group. Amber gave a public talk on ‘Definitions of a Prostitute’ at the ADO exhibition at the Londonewcastle Project Space in Shoreditch. Amber was a panelist in the public debate ‘Who’s in Control?’ at the Centre for Mind in Society at QMUL. Recent Sponsored Workshop Participation, Conference Panels and Key Note Talks ‘Fair Trade Options for The Cannabis Market’, London, UK, February 4th – 5th 2019 Speaker and workshop facilitator at Drug Policy Alliance Workshop on Model Drug Law Legislation, New York (2018) Key note speaker at Expo Weed Mexico, August 2018 La Ley y Las Clubes Sociales –plenary speech on comparative and constitutional law on the cannabis clubs model (in Spanish) at cannabis trade fair legal panel (2018) Presenter on the Penal Provisions of UN drug control conventions, West Africa Civil Society Institute, Meeting of Expert, Accra, Ghana (2017) Participant in KCL Algorithmic Government Workshops including ‘Big-Data-Driven Decision Making in UK Criminal Justice and Regulation’ (2017) Panellist on the Right to Consume Drugs, Drug Policy Reform Conference, Atlanta, USA (2017) Selected Conference Papers and Workshop Presentations Marks, A. and Bowling B., (2017) ‘Automatic Justice’ The Centre for Technology, Ethics, Law & Society (TELOS) at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College. Marks, A, (2016) ‘Relevance’ Probability and Statistics in Forensic Science, Turing Gateway to Mathematics, Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge Marks A (2016) ‘Personal Consumption in Spanish Drug Law’ Staff Work in Progress Presentation, Queen Mary, University of London Marks A (2013) ‘Are Judges Enthralled to Science?’ at the annual judge's conference of the Canadian Provincial Court Judges, ‘From CSI to the SCC: The Impact of Science on the Judicial Process’; Marks A (2013) ‘Sniffing out the Boundaries of Privacy’ at the Workshop Law and Senses (Ontario, Canada) (funded by Carleton University, Canada) Marks A (2013) ‘Criminal Smells’ at Law and the Senses Conference (Westminster University) Marks A (2013) ‘Legal Highs and Organised Crime‘ at the Renmin University and Queen Mary University of London Joint Conference: Policy and Criminal Justice: How to meet the challenges of organized crime in the context of globalisation in Beijing. Marks A (2012) ‘Tracing the Fault Line in Forensic Science’ Staff Work in Progress Presentation, Queen Mary, University of London Marks A (2011)‘Expert Evidence of Drug Traces’ at The Future of Expert Evidence Conference, Queen Mary, University of London Marks A (2009) ‘Canine identification evidence: the need for reform’ at the UK Law Enforcement Agencies Dog Systems Bi-Annual Conference Marks A (2009) 'The journey of the Mosquito: A case study on the legal and public acceptability of sonar deterrence in crime control' at the 5th European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons, Ettlingen, Germany Marks A. (2009) ‘From Biological to Biotechnological Surveillance: Towards an Analytical Framework and Research Agenda’ at ESRC/SSN Seminar Series, The Everyday Life of Surveillance, Newcastle University Bowling, B. and Marks, A. (2007) ‘Crime Control Technologies’, Regulating Technologies, TELOS, KCL Marks A. (2007) ‘The ethical implications of olfactory research presented at The UK Semiochemistry Network Workshop on Chemical Signals in Vertebrates Marks A. (2005) ‘Forensic Olfaction: The Legal Challenge Ahead presented at Gordon Research Conference on Detecting Illicit Substances Marks A. (2004) ‘The Legal Implications of an expansion in olfactory surveillance’ presented at the DSTL (MoD) conference on The Security Applications of Olfaction. Related newsSpiking: the case for a new statutory offence 28 October 2024 George Hinde Moot Final 2023 17 April 2023 Model Drug Law drafted by Amber Marks recognised at Paris Peace Forum 6 December 2019 Model Drug Law drafted by Amber Marks recognised at Paris Peace Forum 6 December 2019 VICE speaks to Amber Marks about Catalonia’s Ground-Breaking New Weed Law 24 July 2017 VICE speaks to Amber Marks about Catalonia’s Ground-Breaking New Weed Law 24 July 2017 Amber Marks featured in VICE article on ‘Why Sniffer Dogs Should Be Banned at Clubs and Festivals’ 21 July 2017 Amber Marks featured in VICE article on ‘Why Sniffer Dogs Should Be Banned at Clubs and Festivals’ 21 July 2017 QMUL Law academics sign letter claiming Investigatory powers bill not up to the task 15 March 2016 Amber Marks speaks at an event on 'Probability and Statistics - Perspectives from the Legal Profession' 12 February 2016 Amber Marks co-authors amicus curiae brief in the Mexican marijuana case 5 November 2015 Amber Marks interviewed by BBC Radio 4 on the benefits of Spanish Cannabis Social Clubs 4 March 2015 Amber Marks interviewed by BBC Radio 4 on the benefits of Spanish Cannabis Social Clubs 4 March 2015 Amber Marks takes part in the TNI Dialogue Series on Drug Policy in Spain 18 October 2014 Amber Marks takes part in the TNI Dialogue Series on Drug Policy in Spain 18 October 2014 Amber Marks debates Privacy, Secrecy and Surveillance at UCL Legal and Political Theory Forum 28 May 2014 Amber Marks debates Privacy, Secrecy and Surveillance at UCL Legal and Political Theory Forum 28 May 2014 Amber Marks presents 'The role of science in the courtroom' at Canadian Provincial Court Judges conference 3 October 2013 Amber Marks presents 'The role of science in the courtroom' at Canadian Provincial Court Judges conference 3 October 2013 What are you reading? Criminologist reviews book by QM's Amber Marks 19 September 2013 What are you reading? Criminologist reviews book by QM's Amber Marks 19 September 2013 Amber Marks presents BBC Radio 4 show 'Sniffing out Danger' 19 June 2012 Amber Marks presents BBC Radio 4 show 'Sniffing out Danger' 19 June 2012