Rate My Professor Robyn Blewer

Dr Robyn Blewer is a Senior Lecturer at Griffith Law School within Griffith University's Arts, Education and Law Group. She has served as Director of the Griffith University Innocence Project since 2019, leading its research initiatives, strategic engagements, and clinical programs aimed at addressing wrongful convictions. In this capacity, she supervises PhD students, co-authors works on international wrongful convictions, and participates as a member of the Innocence Network Research Review Committee. Blewer's doctoral research formed part of the Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship Prosecution Project at the Griffith Criminology Institute from 2013 to 2017, where she collaborated with criminal justice historians to digitize handwritten court registers from Australian higher courts, establishing the largest global repository of historical criminal trial data. Her academic qualifications include a PhD, a Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice completed in 2012, and a BA/LLB (Hons IIA) earned between 1998 and 2004, all from Griffith University.

Blewer's research specializations encompass criminal trial procedure, child witnesses, legal history, wrongful convictions, and innocence projects, with 49 citations on Google Scholar. Prominent publications include her 2021 monograph Child Witnesses in Twentieth Century Australian Courtrooms (Palgrave Macmillan), which explores the historical handling of child testimony; 'Legal decision making about (child) sexual assault complainants’ inconsistent statements' (Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 2022, co-authored with Martschuk, Powell, Goodman-Delahunty); 'Every Move You Make … Every Word You Say: Regulating Police Body Worn Cameras' (co-authored with Behlau); 'Righting Wrongful Convictions with DNA Innocence Testing: Proposals for Legislative Reform in Australia' (2009, co-authored with Weathered); and 'Children's Courts Legislation in Australia: 1895 to 1907' (2017). Over 13 years, she has taught courses such as criminal law, foundations of law, contracts, and equity and trusts at Griffith Law School, appointed as Lecturer in 2019 and progressing to Senior Lecturer. Blewer contributes to public discourse through lectures, including the 2025 Selden Society lecture on juvenile justice reform, and the Griffith Innocence Project podcast 'Did the Time but Not the Crime,' influencing criminal justice policy and practice in Australia.