Gender Based Violence: Reflections on the World Envisaged in “After Dark” by Jayne Cowie: Using Literature to Critically Explore Current Legal Responses to GBV in the Home and in Public

This special issue of The International Journal of Gender, Sexuality and Law, edited by Claire Bessant and Kayliegh Richardson, brings together academic voices from across law and criminology in discussion of the issue of gender-based violence (GBV). Many of the ideas included in this special issue were presented previously at a 2022 conference funded by the Society of Legal Scholars, titled ‘Gender Based Violence: Reflections on the world envisaged in “After Dark” by Jayne Cowie’. That conference sought to use the book ‘After Dark’ as a focal point for a multi-disciplinary discussion about how society and the law should respond to tragedies such as the deaths of Sarah Everard and Ashling Murphy but also to the issue of violence against women. Building on the academic discussion that took place at that conference, this special edition firstly considers some of the legal interventions discussed in After Dark and their potential application within the real world. The second part of the special edition, then considers the potential benefits of using literature and other fictional works to stimulate discussion around legal issues.