CV

Anna Coninx studied law at the University of Bern (BLaw 2005, MLaw 2007) and stayed to complete a doctorate in fields of criminal law and the philosophy of law (Dr. iur. 2011, Professor Walther Hug Prize for the 2011/2012 academic year, Swiss Association for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy Prize for the best dissertation on the philosophy of law in the 2010–2012 academic years). After her doctorate she completed a Magister Juris at the University of Oxford (MJur 2014 with distinction, scholarship from the Berrow Foundation Lincoln College). She worked as a research assistant, senior assistant and lecturer in Criminal Law and International Criminal Policy at the University of Bern’s Faculty of Law (2007–2013, 2014–2015) and senior assistant in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the University of Zurich’s law department (2015–2018). She also held a postdoctoral scholarship from the Hans Sigrist Foundation at the University of Bern (2012–2013 and 2014–2015). From February 2018 to March 2023 she was an assistant professor with tenure track in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the University of Lucerne’s Faculty of Law. She completed a postdoctoral thesis on the topic ‘Crime prevention beyond penal sentences: the purpose and limits of intensive preventative measures’. She has been a full professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law and Philosophy of Law since March 2023. In addition to her membership in the Department of Criminal Law, she has been a member and Vice Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies (lucernaiuris) at the University of Lucerne since February 2023. She is also a member of the directorate of the Obwalden Institute for Justice Research. She is also an investigator for sexual harassment at the University of Lucerne. In addition to her professional activities, Anna Coninx is an active board member of the association “Unser Recht”. Anna Coninx was also a member of the Bern city parliament with the Grüne Freie Liste party (2002–2006) and the cantonal parliament with the Grüne Bern party (2006–2008), where she sat on the judicial commission and various legislative commissions. She is married and has two sons.

Publication

Research

Modern crime prevention is characterised by hybrid legal constructions combining elements from various different fields of law. This particularly applies to the combination of criminal law and administrative law, but also of criminal law and adult protection law. Given these current developments, Anna Coninx takes a research approach covering multiple disciplines of law and is particularly interested in fundamental questions falling into interface areas. She also undertakes research into traditional substantive criminal law and criminal process law, with her research specialisms also including sanction law and the philosophy of law.

Her current and past research projects cover the following topics:

Foundations of criminal law

• State of emergency as justification and basis for exclusion of guilt
• Offences dangerous to public safety

Criminal procedure law and the principles of constitutional law

• Foundations of coercive measures law
• Criminal procedure preventative detention
• Presumption of innocence
• Principle of proportionality
• Engel doctrine

Criminal procedure, administrative law and civil law measures for hazard prevention

• Foundations of risk prevention law measures
• Custodial measures in criminal law, administrative law and civil law
• Occupational and operational disqualifications
• Suspension of driver’s licences
• Risk projection

Criminal law and institutions

• Privatisation of the penal system
• Criminal records law

Philosophy of law

• Criminal justice theory
• Theories of justice
• Emergency law

Comparative law

• Philosophical foundations of common law
• Preventative criminal law and sanction law in England/Wales and Germany

Achievements

Vested interests