Dr Miranda Bevan is a Lecturer in Law at the Dickson Poon School of Law, specialising in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice.

Miranda gained her PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2019. Her doctoral research into the experience of children and young people detained as suspects in the police station broke new ground as the first substantial empirical study in England and Wales focusing on the child’s perspective of police detention. As an ESRC post-doctoral fellow at LSE she built on that research, working with the Independent Custody Visitors Association to support their national thematic focus on children in police custody, producing a range of training videos and resources. She also collaborated with the National Appropriate Adult Network in the creation of an animated video resource for family members supporting children in police custody as appropriate adults. She maintains her connection with the role acting as a volunteer appropriate adult for the Southwark Appropriate Adult Service.

Miranda is the author of Children in Police Custody: Adversity and Adversariality Behind Closed Doors (OUP 2024) and continues her research in police custody as Co-Investigator on a Nuffield Foundation funded grant ‘Children in Police Custody: piloting a ‘Child First’ approach’. She also acts as secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Children in Police Custody.

Before coming to academia, Miranda practised as a criminal barrister at 2 Hare Court, Chambers of Jonathan Laidlaw QC from 2000 to 2012. After leaving the Bar, Miranda spent two years at the Law Commission as lawyer with responsibility for the Unfitness to Plead Report (published in 2016). She also spent 12 months as a Policy Associate at the Howard League for Penal Reform where she led on a project to reduce the imprisonment of women which produced two policy briefings: Reset: Rethinking remand for women and For their own protection?: The case for repeal (on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Women in the Penal System).

Miranda is a member of the EU COST Action 'Justice to youth language needs'. She is also a member of the Inner Temple. 

Research Interests 

Miranda's research focuses on vulnerable suspects and defendants in the criminal justice process. She is particularly interested in the policing of children (10-18 year olds) - their experiences and treatment on arrest and when they are detained in the police station.

More generally her work explores the extent to which children and vulnerable adults are able to participate effectively in criminal justice processes, whether that is being stopped and searched, being interviewed by the police, or engaging in the trial process.

PhD Supervisions 

Miranda is currently accepting PhD supervisions 

Teaching Interests 

• Criminal Law
• Criminal Justice
• Criminal Evidence

Selected Publications 

Bevan, M. [2024] 'Children in Police Custody: Adversity and Adversariality Behind Closed Doors' (OUP 2024)

Bevan, M. [2023] ‘Behind closed doors: Protections for child suspects in police custody’ in Vulnerability, The Accused, and the Criminal Justice System: Multi-jurisdictional Perspectives, edited by Roxanna Dehaghani, Samantha Fairclough and Lore Mergaerts, London: Routledge.

Bevan, M. [2022] The ‘pains’ of police custody for children, British Journal of Criminology, Vol.62 (4), p.805-821