Ian O'Donnell

Calling Time on Crime: Motivation, Generativity and Agency in Irish Probationers

Why people remain involved in, or detach themselves from, criminal activity is not fully understood. This article presents the results of an investigation of psychosocial changes involved in the process of desistance among 73 male probationers in Dublin, Ireland. The stated desire of the great majority was to cease offending and their aspirations revolved around finding a job and a place to live, and stopping drug use. Generative concerns were raised infrequently. There was little evidence of agency, with few individuals talking of empowerment or self-mastery. These findings mark an interesting point of contrast with other research in this area.

Coercive confinement in the Republic of Ireland: The waning of a culture of control

In Ireland until recently, a range of institutions other than prisons was utilized to confine those deemed to be deviant. It seems clear that rather than becoming more punitive (if this is estimated by the number of individuals coercively confined) the country has become considerably less so over the past 50 years. In 1951, despite high emigration providing a safety valve, more than 1 percent of the population was behind closed doors in prisons, borstal, reformatory and industrial schools, psychiatric institutions (as involuntary patients) and homes for unmarried mothers. This was eight times higher than in 2002.

Going Home for Christmas: Prisoners, a Taste of Freedom and the Press

This article explores the extent to which prisoners in the UK and Republic of Ireland are permitted to leave prison to join their families for the Christmas festivities. It is argued that the willingness to allow such absences provides insights into divergent penal policies and contrasting socio-cultural attitudes towards prisoners and imprisonment (and, tangentially, the meaning of Christmas). In the Republic of Ireland the use of temporary release (TR) for Christmas although in decline has been largely uncontroversial. Even when addressing prisoners who fail to return at the end of their leave, press coverage tends to be discreet and factual. Very different in style and tone are newspapers in the UK which tend only to report prisoner release schemes if the stories can be linked to themes of recidivism, pampered (and dangerous) prisoners and misplaced political correctness. Here the granting of a taste of freedom is characterised by a strong belief in the 19th-Century principle of less eligibility and the implication that prison inmates are an undeserving underclass who should be shown no goodwill at any time of the year.

The Death Penalty in Post-Independence Ireland

The history of capital punishment in post-Independence Ireland has received scant scholarly attention. This essay is an attempt to set out what can be learned about the executed persons, the executioners, and the politicians whose inaction (not reforming the law) and actions (deciding against clemency) brought the two former groups together. The death penalty was deployed strategically against IRA members during the early 1940s as part of a package of legal measures designed to crush subversive activity, but more usually its targets were murderers whose acts had no wider ramifications. One notable aspect of the Irish arrangements was that when a prisoner was to be taken to the gallows an English hangman was always contracted to arrange the ‘drop’. Reflecting popular antipathy towards the practice the Irish state was unable to find a willing executioner within its borders.

Crime and punishment in the Republic of Ireland: A country profile

The colonial origins of the Irish criminal justice system can be seen its buildings, laws, procedures, and practices. When change occurs it is often driven by events rather than emerging from a deliberative process that draws on evidence and expertise. The murders, in the space of a fortnight in 1996, of a journalist and a police officer, led to heightened anxiety about crime and its consequences. This was accompanied by a toughening of the political mood that was translated into a commitment to more police and more prisons. At around the same time, and continuing for a decade, the Republic of Ireland experienced rapid social change, including significant inward migration and greatly increased prosperity. These trends impacted on police, prosecutors, and courts and put new pressures on the prison population. How these challenges are addressed – especially in the context of declining economic resources – will determine the shape of the criminal justice system in the years ahead.

Gallous stories or dirty deeds? Representing parricide in J.M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World

The most famous play in the history of Irish theater, J.M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World has been oddly neglected in sociology and criminology. This article examines the provenance of the violence around which Playboy’s dizzying text swirls, namely, a tragicomic parricide seemingly twice committed. In particular, we ask: is the text plausible? Though Synge’s authorial intentions are not open to complete reclamation, we explore first, his self-stated reliance on the actual cases of William Maley and James Lynchehaun and, second, whether the representation(s) of parricide in Playboy more or less accurately reflected the presence and character of parricide at the time the controversial play was being imagined and first performed in 1907. The culture wars and associated media frenzy over the play provide an ever-looming backcloth against which to interpret the meanings of intergenerational violence in a colonial society lurching towards national self-determination.

Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, Vol. 4: Violent Acts and Violentization: Assessing, Applying, and Developing Lonnie Athens' Theory and Research

is just one nonlegal factor that contributes to a lack of action against sexual harassment by French-based corporations. Trust in the market in the United States and greater overall protection for employees in France are also important factors that Saguy weaves into her analysis. In the end, it is almost too easy for Saguy to prove her point that neither culture nor structure is sufficient to explain French and American differences. She may have had enough empirical material to make an even stronger argument detailing specifically how the two spheres are interrelated. Saguy provides a useful critique of oversimplified understandings of globalization. She notes that the French and American understandings of sexual harassment developed interdependently; however, while some French activists used American law as a starting point for mobilization against sexual harassment, aspects of the current French law developed in explicit opposition to American legal beliefs and practices. It is therefore inappropriate to view globalization as simply the international diffusion of similar policies. Saguy’s methodology is particularly noteworthy. In addition to her thorough review of French and American law, she also conducted telephone interviews with French and American corporate representatives and 54 in-depth interviews with lawyers, activists, and corporate representatives in each country. Saguy was careful in her analysis of these interviews to stand back from and critically evaluate the interview subjects’ claims. She deftly corrected misconceptions of facts and pointed out faulty inferences, but was nonjudgmental regarding the different opinions expressed. Finally, Saguy analyzed an original dataset of 681 articles on sexual harassment in six leading French and American newspapers. The tables and figures in the book are valuable organizing tools. The conscientious use of multiple sources of data made the overall analysis compelling. What Is Sexual Harassment? is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate law and society, gender, and comparative courses. It should also be considered for graduate methods courses. The book is essential reading for scholars who consider themselves experts in any of these areas. Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, Vol. 4: Violent Acts and Violentization: Assessing, Applying, and Developing Lonnie Athens’ Theory and Research, edited by Lonnie Athens and Jeffrey T. Ulmer. Oxford: Elsevier, 2003. 187 pp.

Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, Vol. 4: Violent Acts and Violentization

80.00 cloth. ISBN: 07623-0905-9.

Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, Vol. 4: Violent Acts and ViolentizationSociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, Vol. 4: Violent Acts and Violentization: Assessing, Applying, and Developing Lonnie Athens' Theory and Research, edited by AthensLonnieUlmerJeffrey T.. Oxford: Elsevier, 2003. 187 pp.

is just one nonlegal factor that contributes to a lack of action against sexual harassment by French-based corporations. Trust in the market in the United States and greater overall protection for employees in France are also important factors that Saguy weaves into her analysis. In the end, it is almost too easy for Saguy to prove her point that neither culture nor structure is sufficient to explain French and American differences. She may have had enough empirical material to make an even stronger argument detailing specifically how the two spheres are interrelated. Saguy provides a useful critique of oversimplified understandings of globalization. She notes that the French and American understandings of sexual harassment developed interdependently; however, while some French activists used American law as a starting point for mobilization against sexual harassment, aspects of the current French law developed in explicit opposition to American legal beliefs and practices. It is therefore inappropriate to view globalization as simply the international diffusion of similar policies. Saguy’s methodology is particularly noteworthy. In addition to her thorough review of French and American law, she also conducted telephone interviews with French and American corporate representatives and 54 in-depth interviews with lawyers, activists, and corporate representatives in each country. Saguy was careful in her analysis of these interviews to stand back from and critically evaluate the interview subjects’ claims. She deftly corrected misconceptions of facts and pointed out faulty inferences, but was nonjudgmental regarding the different opinions expressed. Finally, Saguy analyzed an original dataset of 681 articles on sexual harassment in six leading French and American newspapers. The tables and figures in the book are valuable organizing tools. The conscientious use of multiple sources of data made the overall analysis compelling. What Is Sexual Harassment? is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate law and society, gender, and comparative courses. It should also be considered for graduate methods courses. The book is essential reading for scholars who consider themselves experts in any of these areas. Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, Vol. 4: Violent Acts and Violentization: Assessing, Applying, and Developing Lonnie Athens’ Theory and Research, edited by Lonnie Athens and Jeffrey T. Ulmer. Oxford: Elsevier, 2003. 187 pp.

80.00 cloth. ISBN: 0-7623-0905-9.: Assessing, Applying, and Developing Lonnie Athens' Theory and Research

80.00 cloth. ISBN: 07623-0905-9.