Putting legal research on trial: a reflection of challenges investigating terrorism prosecutions in England and Wales

In 2024, governments continue to grapple with legal and political ramifications posed by repatriating foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs). Criminal justice systems and governments taking different approaches to returning individuals suspected of committing acts of terrorism overseas has become an area of international contestation. Inconsistency in repatriating FTFs has highlighted differences between legal systems across Europe, Asia, and North America. In England and Wales, growing interest in the repatriation and prosecution of terrorists has outlined barriers to effective research on terrorism trials and legal decision-making processes. Dismantling barriers to researching the courtroom is central to promoting legal transparency and accountability, understanding how appropriate legal responses to terrorism are articulated and enforced, and drawing attention to the potential impact of implicit biases in the prosecution of terrorists in the criminal justice system. The study of terrorism trials and sentencing is an interdisciplinary endeavour which allows for the fields of law, terrorism studies, and criminology to investigate intersections between criminality, justice, and national security. However, relatively little work has explored these junctures. This article outlines methodological, practical, and conceptual barriers which hamper research on terrorism trials in England and Wales and suggests new methods which can promote transparent interdisciplinary legal research.