On September 10th 2025 we held an ImpleMéndez Workshop during the Vulnerable Accused in the Criminal Justice System conference at Cardiff University in the UK. The conference was organized by Dr Roxanna Dehaghani (Cardiff, UK), Dr Samantha Fairclough (Birmingham, UK), and Professor Harriet Pierpoint (South Wales, UK) and funded by Cardiff Centre for Law and Society, the Society of Legal Scholars, the British Society of Criminology via the Vulnerability Research Network, and ImpleMéndez.
The workshop explored the topic of vulnerability tied to the third Méndez Principle and its implementation across different jurisdictions. The workshop was chaired by Implemendez members Dr Roxanna Dehaghani and WG3 lead Dr Lore Mergaerts (Leuven, Belgium). It was attended by 31 participants: invited conference speakers Dr Kate Doolin (Auckland, New Zealand) and Dr Jon Robins (Brighton, UK), invited Implemendez speakers Drs Katie Maras and Ralph Bagnall (Bath, UK), Dr Brendan O’Mahony (Portsmouth, UK), Implemendez keynote speaker Prof Layla Skinns (Sheffield, UK), ImpleMéndez members Dr Ashlee Beazley (Leuven, Belgium), Dr Aura Preda (Spiru Haret University, Romania), Dr Lütfiye Kaya Cicerali (İstanbul Galata Üniversitesi, Turkey), Dr Alan Cusack (Limerick, Ireland), Dr Hanna Lahtinen (East Finland, Finland), Dr Sam Fairclough (Birmingham, UK), Prof Harriet Pierpoint (South Wales, UK), and 6 PGR/ECR delegates.
The workshop was guided by a series of key questions and examined, for example, whether a universal definition of vulnerability can be reached, how vulnerability can be operationalized and conceptualized in the context of the Méndez Principles, and how they should be adapted to local contexts.
The attached report identifies key strengths (e.g., the comprehensive and inclusive approach to vulnerability in the Méndez principles) and weaknesses (e.g., the definition of vulnerability is quite broad and thus risks being vague and reducing practical applicability) identified during the workshop. Moreover, annexed to the report are the participants’ individual reflection reports on the topic.
Several other outputs will emerge from the conference including a report for ImpleMéndez WG3 based on the conference ImpleMéndez workshop and submissions from ImpleMéndez members, as well as a journal special issue, blog posts (on Defending Vulnerability https://defendingvulnerability.wordpress.com/), and a database of vulnerability screening and identification tools.