Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah has recently published 'Understanding the Barriers to Defendant Participation in Criminal Proceedings in England and Wales' in the journal, Legal Studies. Dr Owusu-Bempah addresses two questions. First, why should defendants have participatory rights and be capable of meaningful participation in criminal proceedings? Second, why has it proven so difficult to attain meaningful participation of defendants? She argues that barriers to meaningful communication between the defendant and the court could be dismantled without great difficulty, but continue to exist because due regard is not given to the normative rationales for participatory rights and defendant participation. These themes were also explored in the recent webinar series, Lay Participation in Criminal Proceedings, which is available as a podcast (Seminar 1; Seminar 2).