Justice lessons in witch hunts

A University of Stirling criminology expert believes people can learn valuable lessons from campaigns that highlight the injustices of Scotland’s witch hunts.

Professor Margaret Malloch, who is about to embark on groundbreaking research into campaigns to memorialise the historical witch hunts and subsequent executions, says the results could shape contemporary concepts of justice.

Professor Malloch has won a prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship for her research project, Memorialising Injustice. It will examine the highprofile campaigning in recent years to remember those persecuted as witches in post-reformation Scotland.

More than 2,500 people were executed for alleged witchcraft between 1563 and 1736, almost 85 per cent women, with many more individuals accused and persecuted. Scotland killed considerably more people than England, despite the much smaller population, says Professor Malloch.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland issued formal apologies in 2022 to those persecuted and executed under the Witchcraft Act 1563. Today’s campaigners have continued to call for a legal pardon for those affected, while memorialisation plans include a national monument for those whose lives were destroyed, and calls to remember the injustices of the past in schools and communities.

Until now, research into the Scottish witch hunts has been largely the domain of history, anthropology and women’s studies experts.

Professor Malloch, a Professor in Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, said: “Restitution for historical injustice is essential for an effective justice system. Memorialising the persecuted contributes to this, but how it shapes contemporary justice is not yet clearly understood. It hasn’t really been a topic for criminologists, so the cultural criminology approach I plan to take is very appropriate for the subject of memorialisation and meaning making.”