Sinéad Ring

Maynooth University, School of Law and Criminology, Faculty Member

University College Dublin, School of Law, Visiting Scholar Autumn 2015.

University of Kent, Kent Law School, Faculty Member

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I am interested in how law's engagement with questions of memory, trauma and national identity influence the discursive construction of victimhood, perpetration and institutional responsibility.

I am on the editorial board of the journals Social and Legal Studies and Feminists At Law.

I am interested in supervising PhD projects in the following areas: feminist legal studies; sexual violence; domestic violence; victims and the law; law and memory and historical child sexual abuse.

Research interests: historical child sexual abuse; memory studies; critical approaches to evidence; victimology.

ORCID ID is https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4375-0138

Research areas: Criminal Justice; Evidence; Memory Studies; Gender Sexuality and Law.
Address: Law Department
New House
Maynooth University
Kildare
Ireland

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/law/our-people/sinead-ring

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University of Southampton

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University of California, Irvine

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Central European University

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Kansas State University

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University of Cologne

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Vittorio Gallese

Università degli Studi di Parma (Italy)

Florin Curta

University of Florida

Amy Shields Dobson

Curtin University, Perth

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University of Innsbruck

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Papers by Sinéad Ring

Abortion Law Reform in Ireland

State Legal Responses to Historical Institutional Abuse: Shame, Sovereignty and Epistemic Injustice

Social Science Research Network, 2020

The history of the Irish State is littered with shamed bodies. For decades the State collaborated... more The history of the Irish State is littered with shamed bodies. For decades the State collaborated with religious orders in incarcerating children and single women, shamed by their poverty, race, disability, or association with sexual transgression (Fischer Gender, Nation; O'Sullivan and O'Donnell; Smith; Buckley). Shaming practices such as head shaving, using numbers to identify children, or flogging were used to punish and control (Arnold; Coleman 121; Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse [CICA] vol. 1, ch. 8). Women and children in industrial or reformatory schools, psychiatric hospitals, County Homes, and Magdalene Laundries were burdened with a stigmatized identity that meant total exclusion from society (O'Donnell and O'Sullivan 257). As they have begun to speak publicly about their experiences, victim-survivors have forced the State and Irish society to acknowledge this history. Their testimony to experiences of neglect, beatings, forced labor, sexual assault, and imprisonment are an indictment of the sovereign State's claim to protect

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On delay and duration. Law’s temporal orders in historical child sexual abuse cases

Routledge eBooks, 2018

About the Artist

feminists@law, 2013

The cover artist for this issue is Hannah Tiernan, who is currently studying art at the National ... more The cover artist for this issue is Hannah Tiernan, who is currently studying art at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. She works mainly in sculpture, installation and photography. The photograph is part of an installation piece consisting of a large scale mono print on calico. In front hangs a muslin sheet imprinted with footprints and reflecting a projected series of fallen angles. For further information on the project, click on the attached document. More of Hannah Tiernan's work is on show at: https://www.facebook.com/HannahTiernanArtist?ref=stream.

Child Sexual Abuse Reported by Adult Survivors

Tort law

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

The ‘discovery’ of non-recent child sexual abuse in England and Wales, Ireland and Australia

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

Due Process and the Admission of Expert Evidence on Recovered Memory: Lessons from America

Social Science Research Network, 2023

This article reviews the decisions of the US state courts on the admissibility of expert testimon... more This article reviews the decisions of the US state courts on the admissibility of expert testimony on recovered memory in historic child sexual abuse prosecutions. Unlike their English and Irish counterparts, most US courts scrutinise the reliability of expert evidence on recovered memory. In examining the US decisions the article explores the challenges posed to the criminal process by the contested scientific status of recovered memory theory. It sets out due process arguments why expert evidence on the topic should not be admitted in a criminal trial.

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The criminal trial

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

Introduction to Part II

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

State reparations

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

Historical Gendered Institutional Violence: A Research Agenda for Criminologists

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Dec 2, 2022

This article considers the phenomenon of historical gendered institutional harm, examining the wi... more This article considers the phenomenon of historical gendered institutional harm, examining the widespread incarceration of women and girls in Ireland through the decades following independence in 1922. In this period, thousands of women and girls were confined in a network of sites including Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes. The article considers the responses to this history, focusing on those fields which concern themselves with matters of “wrongdoing” and “harm,” responses grounded in law and legalism. We explore both the utility and the limits of these approaches before proposing a criminological research agenda which draws on the centrality of the state in the perpetration of gendered violence. Although Ireland has become a by-word as a case of historical institutional abuse internationally, it remains remarkably understudied by criminologists. The article explores how the Irish example can speak to the discipline of criminology by forcing us to reimagine how we conceive of gendered harms and state-perpetrated harms.

Justice Denied? An Analysis of the Difficulties facing Applicants for Prohibition in Delayed Prosecutions for Child Sexual Abuse

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Public inquiries

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

‘Our most precious possession of all’1: the survivor of non-recent childhood sexual abuse as the ideal victim?

Policy Press eBooks, Jul 4, 2018

A key contribution of Christie’s has been to show that the notion of the ideal victim (and offend... more A key contribution of Christie’s has been to show that the notion of the ideal victim (and offender) is concerned with meaning-making. It helps society to make sense of the suffering of individuals, and to respond appropriately to individuals’ demands for justice. However, as Christie (1986) makes clear, in order to qualify as an ideal victim, a person cannot threaten established social hierarchies. Similarly, the ideal offender must be someone who does not threaten the status quo: they must be outside the norm, a kind of monster. The contours of who can and cannot be an ideal victim or ideal offender illuminate the values held by a particular society. This chapter examines the salience of Christie's conceptualisation of the ideal victim/offender in the context of legal and political responses in Ireland to reports of historical childhood sexual abuse. It argues that abusers were typically constructed as monstrous, but victims were not ‘ideal’ because they threatened the established order of Church and State. It is argued that, contrary to Christie, non-ideal victims may still gain political purchase, if their offenders are constructed as ideal offenders.

‘Our most precious possession of all’: the survivor of non-recent childhood sexual abuse as the ideal victim?

Policy Press eBooks, Jul 4, 2018

The evolution of legal and policy frameworks around child sex offences in Australia

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

The evolution of legal and policy frameworks around child sex offences in England and Wales

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

Child sexual abuse reported by adult survivors: legal responses in England and Wales, Ireland and Australia

Collateral Challenges to a Declaration of Unconstitutionality: A v Governorof Arbour Hill Prison

We are delighted to present the fourteenth volume of the Irish Student Law Review. In the traditi... more We are delighted to present the fourteenth volume of the Irish Student Law Review. In the tradition of previous volumes, this Review maintains a high level of scholarly legal analysis of pertinent and diverse issues. Useful for the practitioner, academic and student, it delves into an array of topics, a number of which constitute developing areas of law in this jurisdiction. The Editorial Board this year benefited from huge interest from potential authors from many legal institutions, granting us a wealth of material from which to choose. The arduous task of selecting a small proportion of articles from some sixty submissions fell to a dedicated and enthusiastic Editorial Board. The first-rate choices they made are illustrated by the richness of the current volume. Covering a wide spectrum of legal discourse, from commercial law to human rights, environmental, criminology and public interest law, the reader has an invaluable key into contemporary Irish law. There have been many people involved in this year's publication. We would like to thank the Friends of the Irish Student Law Review who provided not only the vital financial assistance for this year's Review, but also welcome encouragement. The administrative backup of the Honorable Society of the King's Inns has considerably assisted us in the practicalities of publishing a scholarly journal. In particular, warm thanks are due to the Under Treasurer of the King's Inns, Camilla McAleese, whose support has been unfailing. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the Honourable Mrs Catherine McGuinness for launching this volume and devoting her time to the particularly challenging task of judging the best article. Finally, the Review would not be the quality publication it is without the members of the Editorial Board. Their dedication, hard work and expertise willingly volunteered over the past nine months has ensured the publication of this Review.

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Abortion Law Reform in Ireland

State Legal Responses to Historical Institutional Abuse: Shame, Sovereignty and Epistemic Injustice

Social Science Research Network, 2020

Download

On delay and duration. Law’s temporal orders in historical child sexual abuse cases

Routledge eBooks, 2018

About the Artist

feminists@law, 2013

Child Sexual Abuse Reported by Adult Survivors

Tort law

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

The ‘discovery’ of non-recent child sexual abuse in England and Wales, Ireland and Australia

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

Due Process and the Admission of Expert Evidence on Recovered Memory: Lessons from America

Social Science Research Network, 2023

Download

The criminal trial

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

Introduction to Part II

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

State reparations

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

Historical Gendered Institutional Violence: A Research Agenda for Criminologists

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Dec 2, 2022

Justice Denied? An Analysis of the Difficulties facing Applicants for Prohibition in Delayed Prosecutions for Child Sexual Abuse

Download

Public inquiries

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

‘Our most precious possession of all’1: the survivor of non-recent childhood sexual abuse as the ideal victim?

Policy Press eBooks, Jul 4, 2018

‘Our most precious possession of all’: the survivor of non-recent childhood sexual abuse as the ideal victim?

Policy Press eBooks, Jul 4, 2018

The evolution of legal and policy frameworks around child sex offences in Australia

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

The evolution of legal and policy frameworks around child sex offences in England and Wales

Routledge eBooks, Mar 31, 2022

Child sexual abuse reported by adult survivors: legal responses in England and Wales, Ireland and Australia

Collateral Challenges to a Declaration of Unconstitutionality: A v Governorof Arbour Hill Prison

Download

Stealthing and the law- why non-consensual condom removal should be a crime.

Public Lecture to celebrate 20th Anniversary of The Brussels School of International Studies Wa... more

Reflections on repealing the 8th Amendment: Abortion Rights in Ireland and Northern Ireland (2018)

by Dr Julie McCandless and Sinéad Ring

Dr Sinéad Ring and Dr Julie McCandless discuss the recent repeal of the 8th Amendment to the Iris... more

The Pernicious Nature of Rape Myths and How They Continue to Affect Rape Prosecutions

Nicola Barker, Sinéad Ring, Maria Drakopoulou and Rosemary Hunter* This is an audio recording of... more Nicola Barker, Sinéad Ring, Maria Drakopoulou and Rosemary Hunter*

This is an audio recording of a panel session at the Kent Critical Law Society Conference, 'The Society of Control: Interrogating Law, Governance and Regulation', held on 1-2 March 2014 in Keynes College, University of Kent. The panel, titled 'The Contribution of Feminism in Contemporary Public Debates about Law', featured three speakers.

Nicola Barker spoke on 'Feminism, Family and the Politics of Austerity' (commencing at 1.10). The powerpoint slides accompanying her presentation are provided alongside this audio file.

Sinéad Ring spoke on 'The Pernicious Nature of Rape Myths and How They Continue to Affect Rape Prosecutions' (commencing at 16.30).

Maria Drakopoulou spoke on 'Feminism, Tradition and the Question of Sexual Violence' (commencing at 41.00).

Rosemary Hunter acted as discussant, commenting on all three papers (commencing at (1.05.38).

The speakers are introduced at the beginning by Serena Natile.

Sinéad Ring

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