In June 2024, several scholars from, and friends of, the School of Law and Criminology presented their research at the North-South Criminology Conference. The conference, Criminology in Times of Conflict: Rights, Harms and Responsibilities, was hosted by Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.
On the first day, at a panel on crime and security at the border, Dr. Lynsey Black (Assistant Professor in Criminology) and Danielle C. Jefferis (PhD Researcher) presented. Lynsey chaired the panel and spoke to the title Telling stories and navigating silence in post-conflict Northern Ireland, while Danielle gave a presentation entitled Border spaces, vulnerability, and identity. To learn about their work on criminal justice, security and the Northern Irish border, funded by the Irish Research Council, click here.
Later, a panel entitled Exploring victimisation heard from two Maynooth scholars. First, Dr. Sinéad Ring (Assistant Professor in Law) presented her work jointly with Dr. Kate Gleeson (Macquarie University, Australia). Their presentation was called Based on the conditions of the day: comparing sentencing standards in non-recent institutional child sexual abuse cases, Ireland and Australia. Sinéad and Kate’s book (with Kim Stevenson) can be found here and was reviewed here. Triona Kenny (PhD Researcher) presented her research, Optimising therapeutic jurisprudence for victims of crime: a practical response to secondary victimisation. Elsewhere, Kate Duffy (PhD Researcher) presented Containing contagion: prostitution, legislation and resisting gendered surveillance as part of a panel on historical criminology.
Further panels involved two PhD Researchers, Maria Cleary and Shauna Armstrong. Maria presented Ireland’s female prisons: researching confinement in these ‘institutions of hope’ at a panel on prisons, hope and desistance. In a panel on youth justice, Shauna presented her research, Intersectionality of the Irish youth justice system, the risk factor prevention paradigm and the care system.
The second day began with a panel on state violence and marginalisation, where Dr. Cian Ó Concubhair (Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice) discussed Policing housing rights activism in Ireland: police vs protester legitimacies and Ireland’s contested revolutionary legacy. A panel on barriers to reintegration chaired by Dr. Joe Garrihy (Assistant Professor in Criminology) heard about his research, co-authored with Dr. Ciara Bracken-Roche (Assistant Professor in Criminology), The secondary punishment: a study on employer attitudes to hiring people with criminal convictions and toolkit for inclusive hiring. A report on this project can be found here, and their toolkit can be found here.
Next, Dr. Ian Marder (Assistant Professor in Criminology) chaired a panel on occupational cultures and wellbeing, where he also spoke to the title Building restorative occupational cultures in Ireland: recent research with police and prisons. The policing paper, with Katharina Kurz (PhD Researcher, Department of Anthropology and Department of Education) can be read here. At another panel on technology and ethics, Iva-Nicole Mavrlja (PhD Researcher) presented Debating the introduction of facial recognition technology in Irish policing.
In the final group of panels, Cydney Alison Sheridan (Teaching and Research Assistant in Criminology) discussed her award-winning MA research, The importance of incorporating a Southern criminological and postcolonial perspective when examining the offence of cow lynchings in India in a panel on Southern and postcolonial criminology. In a panel of issues in Irish criminology, Patrice McCormack (Research Assistant in Open Criminology) presented her work, A systematic scoping review of literature on criminal justice research partnerships to inform the Criminal justice Open Research Dialogue (CORD) in Ireland. On the same panel, Dr. Johanna O’ Shea (Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Social Studies) presented her research, A view from the bench: how senior judges view probation practice in the area of dangerousness. At a panel on crime, safety and place, Jason Quinn (PhD Researcher, Technological University of Dublin; Assistant Lecturer, Maynooth University) presented his doctoral work, Manufacturing a desire for home security.
Colleagues also participated in several roundtables: Ian, Patrice, Dr. Kevin Wozniak (Assistant Professor in Criminology) and Triona (Empathising with 'knowledge users' as a skillset and a research practice), Lynsey and Danielle (Considering the Northern Irish border) and Joe (University and prison partnerships on the Island of Ireland).
Two former PhD students also presented their research. Dr. Niamh Wade (Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin) presented Barriers to change: the closure of the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre, while Dr. Siobhán Buckley (Lecturer in Law, Ulster University) presented ‘Exit points’ in youth justice systems: European approaches to young adults and transitions.
Finally, our colleague from the Department of Sociology, Shamsoddin Shariati (PhD Researcher), was due to present on Law compliance dynamics: a global comparative analysis of traffic law obedience through theories of social order and state capacity. However, he was unable to attain a visa to travel to Northern Ireland, reflecting the inequalities in access to conference attendance for academics from different countries. You can read his RTÉ article about this research here.
The School congratulates presenters, especially our current and former PhD Researchers and Research Assistants, for their extensive contributions to this conference.