Podcast: Exorcism harm and committing crimes in your sleep
Resident NTU expert, Dr Reverend Helen Hall gives a fascinating insight into religious freedom, consent and the law in the very first episode of the Re:search Re:imagined podcast.
The first episodes of a new podcast launched by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) are to tackle two complex areas of law – exorcism and sleep-related crimes.
Released on Friday 30 September at 10am, the first podcast Can you drive out evil? Breaking the silence on exorcisms, religious freedom and consent explores the relationship between religious exorcisms and the law with Nottingham Law School Associate Professor, Reverend Dr Helen Hall.
As a researcher in the fields of law and religion, Rev’d Dr Hall discusses the surge in exorcisms in recent years, the dangers of the practice, the accuracy of depictions in horror movies such as The Exorcist, and how the law applies to religious practices like exorcisms.
The second episode features two sleep experts, Professor John Groeger, a psychologist from NTU’s School of Social Sciences, and Dr John Rumbold, Nottingham Law School lecturer with an interest in forensic sleep disorders.
Can you kill someone in your sleep and get away with it? investigates sleep disorders and the legal ramifications of sleep-related crimes, including topics such as what happens inside our heads when we sleep, what happens when we sleepwalk, and what happens when our dreams take a fateful turn. The experts will delve into previous cases of ‘automatism’ to discuss how the law deals with crimes committed when someone claims to have been asleep.
The episodes are the first in NTU’s new Re:search Re:imagined podcast, released on International Podcast Day, which will feature some of the University’s brightest minds.
Presented by NTU Video Journalist, Helen Darby-Dowman, each episode will last approximately 20-30 minutes and will focus on an interesting or topical issue affecting everyday people in society – from conversion therapy, to addiction, dark tourism, and transgender rights.
Listen to the podcast on the NTU website.