Rita Shackel

Professor Rita Shackel is Professor of Law and Ethics in the Sydney Law School at the University of Sydney and a member of the Sydney Institute of Criminology. A graduate of the University of Sydney, she holds BSc, LLB, Graduate Diploma in Education, MA, and PhD degrees from the University of Sydney, a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law, and is admitted as a legal practitioner to the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Her PhD is in developmental psychology. Shackel's career includes positions as a lawyer and legal policy officer at the NSW Cabinet Office, NSW Office of Youth Affairs, and Australian Law Reform Commission before joining academia, where she advanced from Senior Lecturer to Associate Professor and now Professor.

Shackel's research adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examine legal, health, and social justice processes, specializing in sexual and gender-based violence, child sexual abuse prosecutions, transitional gender justice, access to justice for victims and survivors of sexual violence—particularly women and children—and legal education, professionalism, and ethics. Key projects encompass the Evaluation of the ACT Witness Intermediary Program for the ACT Human Rights Commission (2023-2024) and the Making Justice Work for Women country reports on Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (2016). She co-edited the book Rethinking Transitional Gender Justice: Transformative Approaches in Post-Conflict Settings (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, with Lucy Fiske). Prominent publications include Prosecutorial Discretion in Cases of Persistent Child Sexual Abuse (Sydney Law Review, 2026), The Importance of Consistency in Complainants' Evidence in the Decision to Prosecute Child Sexual Abuse Cases (2024), Gender Differences in the Context and Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse (2018), and Understanding Children's Medium for Disclosing Sexual Abuse: A Tool for Overcoming Potential Misconceptions in the Courtroom. As a 2018 Sydney Research Accelerator (SOAR) Fellow, Shackel has delivered distinguished public lectures such as the Medico-Legal Society of Sri Lanka’s 75th Anniversary Oration and contributed to professional leadership including as Associate Dean, Education.

Professional Email: rita.shackel@sydney.edu.au