Rebecca Wallis

Dr Rebecca Wallis is a Senior Lecturer at the TC Beirne School of Law within the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Queensland. She earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland, followed by a Master of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice (Honours) and a PhD from Griffith University. Admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia as a non-practising lawyer, her teaching and research interests encompass criminal law and procedure, the law of evidence, and the structure and operation of the criminal justice system. Wallis investigates how criminal law theories and principles manifest in policy and practice, influencing the justice system in both intended and unintended ways. Her current projects focus on the criminalisation of threats, particularly within domestic and family violence contexts.

Wallis has authored and co-authored numerous publications advancing criminal justice scholarship. Notable works include 'Threats of fire in the context of domestic and family violence: views on prevalence, forms and contexts from service providers in Queensland' (2023, with Joseph Lelliott), 'Special witness protections and other initiatives: navigating care and complexity in criminal procedure' (2025), 'Final report: evaluation of the fast track sentencing pilot' (2025, co-authored with Melissa Johnstone et al.), and 'Redeeming corporations: designing legal interventions for complex adaptive systems' (2025, with Simon Bronitt). Additional contributions cover evaluations of video-recorded evidence-in-chief pilots (2023), criminal justice responses to child exploitation material offending (2021, co-authored), gendered pathways to prison in Thailand (2018, co-authored), and submissions to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council (2019). Through these efforts, she has informed policy on sentencing, youth justice, witness protections, and violence prevention, contributing to practical improvements in criminal procedure and support services.