b. 1958
Nicola Lacey is a British legal philosopher and criminal law theorist, currently Professor of Law and Social Theory at the London School of Economics. She is known for her work on criminal responsibility, the social constitution of identity, and the political economy of punishment. Her scholarship challenges atomistic liberal accounts of the self, arguing that identity and responsibility are constituted through social relations rather than individual will.
Developed a socially-situated critique of liberal atomistic conceptions of the self and criminal responsibility
Authored 'The Prisoners' Dilemma' (2008), a comparative study of incarceration and political economy
Wrote 'A Life of H.L.A. Hart' (2004), a major intellectual biography of the twentieth century's most influential legal philosopher
Pioneered feminist approaches to criminal law theory and punishment
Contributed foundational work on character, capacity, and the shifting grounds of criminal liability