Master of Philosophy in Criminology and Criminal Justice (Oxon)
Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (ANU)
Bachelor of Asian Studies (Indonesian) (Hons) (ANU)
Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (ANU)
Legal Practitioner (Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory)
Associate Director, Public Law and Human Rights Forum
Contact Information
Research Interests
- Comparative Criminal Law and Punishment
- Southeast Asian Law
- Islamic Law
- Legal Pedagogy
Subjects Taught
- Criminal Law
- Criminology
- Law of Evidence
- Legal Methods, Research and Writing
Born in Canberra, Australia, Daniel studied law and Asian studies at the Australian National University before working for short periods at the NSW-ACT Aboriginal Legal Service and the ACT Government Solicitor. In 2008, Daniel moved to the United Kingdom where he was Keith Murray Graduate Scholar at Lincoln College, Oxford, reading for an MPhil and a DPhil. Daniel joined CityU in January 2014 as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in July 2020.
Daniel’s research focuses on criminal law and punishment in comparative perspective, also extending to Southeast Asian law, Islamic law and legal pedagogy. He is available for research collaborations, media commentary and PhD supervision in these and related areas.
Selected Publications
Books:
- Executive Clemency: Comparative and Empirical Perspectives (Routledge 2020, edited with Andrew Novak)
- Last Chance for Life: Clemency in Southeast Asian Death Penalty Cases (Oxford University Press 2019):
Journal Articles:
- ‘The Politics of Abolition: Reframing the Death Penalty’s History in Comparative Perspective’ (2025) Punishment & Society, forthcoming (with Carolyn Strange and Andrew Novak)
- ‘Situating Hong Kong’s Rule of Law Internationally’ (2025) Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law, forthcoming (with Noam Zamir)
- ‘Worthless Checks? Clemency, Compassionate Release and the Finality of Life Without Parole Sentences’ (2024) 118(5) Northwestern University Law Review
- ‘Judicial Attitudes Towards Foreign Domestic Helpers in the Hong Kong Criminal Courts’ (2024) 32(1) Asia Pacific Law Review 123, (with Julia Tomassetti)
- ‘Indonesia’s Revised Criminal Code and the Death Penalty – Progress Amid the Gloom?’ (2023) 24(1) Australian Journal of Asian Law (67)
- ‘Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga’ (2022) 11(3) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 43 (with Andrew Novak)
- ‘Executive Clemency during the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Global Analysis of Law and Practice’ (2022) 2 International Criminology 84 (with Andrew Novak)
- ‘Hong Kong’s National Security Law: A Socialist Legal Transplant?’ (2022) 10(1) The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law 28
- ‘Co-Sponsorship, Note Verbale, and Association Behaviour at the UNGA: An Analysis of the Death Penalty Moratorium Resolutions’ (2022) 26(1) The International Journal of Human Rights 160 (with Sangmin Bae)
- ‘Suspended Execution Beyond China’s Borders’ (2022) 9(1) Asian Journal of Law and Society 133 (with Tobias Smith)
- ‘Idiosyncratic Voting in the UNGA Death Penalty Moratorium Resolutions’ (2021) 25(6) The International Journal of Human Rights 974 (with Sangmin Bae)
- ‘The Criminal Law Syllabus and the Realities of Legal Practice in Hong Kong’ (2020) 30(1) Legal Education Review
- ‘Deadly Justice Without Mercy in East Asia?’ (2020) 46(2) International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 141 (with Andrew Novak)
- ‘Making Sense of the Victim’s Role in Clemency Decision-Making’ (2020) 26(1) International Review of Victimology (with Marie Manikis)
- ‘Su’ud Rusli’s Constitutional Court Challenge: Overhauling Clemency in Indonesian Death Penalty Cases?’ (2019) 19(2) Australian Journal of Asian Law 1-18
- ‘Victim-Perpetrator Reconciliation Agreements in Murder Cases: What Can Muslim-Majority Jurisdictions and the PRC Learn from Each Other?’ (2017) 66(4) International & Comparative Law Quarterly963 (with Michelle Miao)
- ‘Jokowi’s Dilemmas in Releasing Indonesia’s Political Prisoners’ (2017) 7(3) Indonesia Law Review 313
- ‘How can Legal Education Speak to the Discovery Enriched Curriculum?’ (2017) 4(1) Asian Journal of Legal Education 17
- ‘What the Rejection of Anwar Ibrahim's Petition for Pardon Tells Us About Malaysia's Royal Pardons System’ (2016) 18(1) Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal 63
- ‘Explaining Death Penalty Clemency in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’ (2016) 10(2) Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law 165
- ‘Is Diya a Form of Clemency’ (2016) 34(1) Boston University International Law Journal 149
- ‘Three Coming Legal Challenges to Indonesia’s Death Penalty Regime’ (2015) 2(2) Indonesian Journal of International and Comparative Law 239
- ‘The Voluntary Exposure Restriction to the Defence of Duress in Australia: A Critical Analysis’ (2013) 4 City University of Hong Kong Law Review 21
- ‘Justice for Serious Crimes Committed During 1999 in Timor-Leste: Where to From Here?’ [2008] East Timor Law Journal 1
- ‘Are Truth and Reconciliation Commissions an Effective Means of Dealing with State-Sanctioned Criminality?’ [2007] Cross-sections 93
- ‘The Role of the Catholic Church in Support or Opposition to the Indonesian Occupation of East Timor (1975-1999)’ [2006] Cross-sections 119
Book Chapters:
- ‘National Narcotics Agencies in Southeast Asia: Relics of the Regional “War on Drugs”’ in Chan Wing Cheong, Michael Hor and Mai Sato (eds), Capital Drug Laws in Asia (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2025)
- ‘Life Imprisonment in Hong Kong’ in Dirk van Zyl Smit, Catherine Appleton and Giao Vucong (eds), Life Imprisonment in Asia (Palgrave MacMillan 2022)
- ‘DEC and School of Law: Reframing the Coursework Curriculum’ in Li Juan Julie et al (eds), Creativity and Innovation in Higher Education (City University of Hong Kong Press 2021)
- ‘Introduction: Recent Constitutional Trends in Clemency’ (with Andrew Novak) in Daniel Pascoe and Andrew Novak (eds), Executive Clemency: Comparative and Empirical Perspectives (Routledge 2020)
- ‘Conclusion: Emerging Trends and Best Practices in Comparative Clemency’ (with Andrew Novak) in Daniel Pascoe and Andrew Novak (eds), Executive Clemency: Comparative and Empirical Perspectives (Routledge 2020)
- ‘The District Courts: Sentencing Decisions as Evolving Legal Culture?’ in Melissa Crouch (ed), The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia (Cambridge University Press 2019)
- ‘Toward a Global Theory of Capital Clemency Incidence’ in Carol Steiker and Jordan Steiker (eds), Comparative Capital Punishment Law (Edward Elgar 2019)
- ‘Comparing Death Penalty Clemency in Singapore and Thailand’ in Jianhong Lu, Max Travers and Lennon Chang (eds), Comparative Criminology in Asia (Springer 2017)
- ‘Researching the Death Penalty in Closed or Partially-Closed Criminal Justice Systems’ in Mary Bosworth, Carolyn Hoyle and Lucia Zedner (eds), Changing Contours of Criminal Justice (Oxford University Press 2016)
- ‘Tiga Tantangan Hukum yang akan Dihadapi Rezim Hukuman Mati di Indonesia’ in Robertus Robet and Todung Mulya Lubis (eds), Politik Hukuman Mati di Indonesia (Marjin Kiri 2016) [in Bahasa Indonesia]
Other Publications:
- ‘Crime and Punishment in Indonesia’ (book review) (2023) Singapore Journal of Legal Studies 211
- ‘Criminal Law Pedagogy’ (book review) (2021) 72(2) Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 406
- 'Amnesty, Serious Crimes and International Law: Global Perspectives in Theory and Practice. By Josepha Close' (book review) (2020) British Yearbook of International Law (with Andrew Novak)
- ‘Judicial and Legal Transformation in Indonesia’ (Book Review of Melissa Crouch (ed), The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia) (2020) Asian Journal of Law and Society
- ‘The Functions of Death Penalty Clemency in Southeast Asia: Comparative Lessons for Vietnam’ (2017) Asian Law Centre Briefing Papers 7
- ‘Drugs Law and Legal Practice in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, by Tim Lindsey and Pip Nicholson’ (Book Review) (2017) 18(1) Melbourne Journal of International Law 110
- ‘Comparative Executive Clemency: The Constitutional Pardon Power and the Prerogative of Mercy in Global Perspective, by Andrew Novak’ (Book Review) (2016) 11(2) Asian Journal of Comparative Law 334
- ‘Socio-Political Determinants of the Death Penalty and Australia’s Foreign Policy’ Submission to The Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade’s Inquiry into Australia’s Advocacy for the Abolition of the Death Penalty (2 October 2015)
- ‘Clemency in Southeast Asian Death Penalty Cases’ (2014) Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society Policy Papers 1
Media and Web Posts
- Interview with Free Malaysia Today on Royal Pardon procedures in Malaysia relating to the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, 28 August 2022
- ‘Tonga: The Last Retentionist State in the Pacific’ (Death Penalty Research Unit Blog, University of Oxford, 21 June 2022) (with Andrew Novak)
- ‘Latest Developments in the UNGA Death Penalty Moratorium Resolutions’ (Death Penalty Research Unit Blog, University of Oxford, 18 May 2021) (with Sangmin Bae)
- ‘Practitioners and Criminal Law Pedagogy in Hong Kong’ (Learning Matters: Teaching and Learning at CUHK Law, 17 March 2021)
- ‘An amnesty and pardon scheme, properly framed, must be part of a political solution to end Hong Kong’s protest crisis’ South China Morning Post (28 November 2019) (with Noam ZAMIR)
- ‘On “Elite” Interviewing in Semi-Secretive Jurisdictions’ Oxford Centre for Criminology Blog (8 May 2017)
- Interview with Radio Austria on Recent Developments Concerning the Death Penalty in Indonesia (Vienna, 3 May 2016)
- ‘Jokowi’s dilemma: amnesty or clemency for political prisoners?’ Indonesia at Melbourne Blog (20 July 2015)
- TV Interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Death Penalty Clemency in Southeast Asia, ‘#Talkaboutit’ Programme (Melbourne, 12 April 2015)
- Co-editor (with Dr Michelle Miao), Asia Death Penalty Blog (April 2015-)
- ‘Clemency sign of presidential power’ Jakarta Post (Opinion, 30 January 2015)
- TV Interview with Channel News Asia on Clemency and the Death Penalty in Indonesia, ‘Insight’ Program (Singapore, 29 January 2015)
- Interview with Radio Austria on Recent Developments Concerning the Death Penalty in Indonesia (Vienna, 19 January 2015)
- ‘Change of President means unsettling time for death row prisoners’ The Age (Opinion, Melbourne, 16 October 2014)
External Appointments/Visiting Research Fellowships
- Centre for Criminology, The University of Hong Kong (May 2023 - )
- Vocational School, Istanbul Kent University (December 2022 - )
- Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne (October 2022 - )
- Eleos Justice, Faculty of Law, Monash University, Melbourne (May 2022)
- Eleos Justice, Faculty of Law, Monash University, Melbourne (March 2021 – August 2021)
- Indonesia Jentera School of Law, Jakarta (April 2018 – May 2018)
- Fordham Law School, New York NY (January 2017 – August 2017)
- Crime Research Centre, University of Western Australia, Perth (October 2012 – April 2013)
Academic Service
- JD Programme Director (2023 -)
- PhD Programme Coordinator (2021 – 2023)
- Student Discipline Committee (2021 - present)
- Asia Pacific Law Review, Book Review Editor (2015 – present)
- Research Centres: Centre for Public Affairs and Law (2020 - present); Public Law and Human Rights Forum (2019 – present, Associate Director 2023 - present); Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law (2017 – present); Southeast Asia Research Centre (2016 – present); Human Rights Law and Policy Forum (2017–2019)
- Discovery Enriched Curriculum Coordinator, School of Law (2015 – present)
- School of Law Research Committee (2014–2016; 2018 – present)
- Gateway Education Course Reviewer (2014–2017)
Current PhD Students
- LI Manyu (sentencing, drug offences, China)
- SHADER Mulki (transitional justice, land reform, Indonesia)
- YANG Xinlei (death penalty, economic conditions, China)
Scholarships, Grants and Awards
- Hong Kong University Grants Committee, General Research Fund Grant (2021-2023) HK$464,097 grant for research project: ‘Foreign Domestic Helpers and Sentencing in Hong Kong’ (with Julia Tomassetti and Marie Manikis)
- CityU, Centre for Public Affairs and Law, CPAL Grant (2021-2023) HK$100,000 ‘A Qualitative Analysis of Protest-Related Sentencing Decisions in Hong Kong’ (with Dennis Wong)
- CityU, School of Law School Matching Fund (2019-2020) HK$114,892 grant for research project: ‘Idiosyncratic Voting in the UNGA Death Penalty Moratorium Resolutions’ (with Sangmin Bae)
- CityU, Teaching Development Grant (2018–2020) HK$131,859 grant for research project: ‘An Evidence-Based Approach to the Criminal Law Syllabus in Hong Kong’
- CityU, School of Law Strategic Research Grant (2018) HK$99,723 grant for research project: ‘Sentencing in Jakarta’s District Courts: Evidence of a Changing Legal Culture? / Is China Exporting the Suspended Death Sentence to Southeast Asia?’
- Hong Kong University Grants Committee, Early Career Scheme Grant (2018–2020) HK$417,770 grant for research project: ‘New Comparative and Empirical Approaches to Clemency’ (with Andrew NOVAK)
- CityU, Outstanding Research Award for Junior Faculty (2017–2018) HK$165,000
- Winner, Best Conference Paper at 12th Asian Law Institute Conference, Taipei: “Is Diya a form of clemency?” (2015)
- CityU Startup Grant (2015–2017) HK$200,000
- Gowrie Postgraduate Scholarship (2012)
- Wingate Scholarship (2011–2012)
- University of Oxford Law Faculty Scholarship (2010–2011)
- Australian Bicentennial Scholarship awarded by King’s College London (2008–2009)
- Keith Murray Graduate Scholarship to Lincoln College, University of Oxford (2008–2012)
Languages
- Indonesian (advanced); Spanish (intermediate); Mandarin Chinese (basic)
Links
- Personal Website: https://www.danielpascoe.net/
- Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HtBP40gAAAAJ&hl=en
- Academia.edu: http://cityu-hk.academia.edu/DanielPascoe
- SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=927708
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/dc_pascoe
- Asia Pacific Law Review: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rplr20/current