Dr Esko Yli-Hemminki

Dr Esko Yli-Hemminki is a postdoctoral researcher in criminal law at the University of Helsinki and a visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law. His research examines the normative foundations of criminal responsibility and punishment, focusing on how liberal criminal law should understand the human individual as a moral and legal agent.

His dissertation, Theorising the Criminal Law’s Person – Perspectives on the Human Individual, Problems of Assumed Properties, and Normative Solutions, develops a framework for analysing how criminal law understands the human individual and the conceptual problems this understanding entails. Yli-Hemminki’s broader research interests span criminal law theory, criminal policy, and philosophy.

His current postdoctoral project, Rethinking Responsibility and Punishment, builds on his doctoral work to propose a unified and ethically coherent approach to responsibility and punishment. The project aims to develop an Agency-Sensitive Model of Responsibility and Punishment, offering a refined theoretical foundation for addressing human dignity, agency, and fairness within liberal criminal law.

At Clare Hall, Esko is accompanied by his wife, Dr Theodora Helimäki (University of Helsinki). She is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Political Science specialising in voting behaviour, political participation, and the dynamics of democratic decision-making.