Griffith College Dublin

1^st Irish Penology Symposium held at Griffith College Cork, November 2011

The 1st Irish Penology Symposium was organised and hosted by Clíodhna Dineen, Course Director for the law faculty, at Griffith College Cork, on Sullivan's Quay in Cork, on Friday the 18th of November. The symposium, developed as a result of the success of the 7th North/South Irish Criminology Conference held in IT Sligo in June of this year. Penology is the branch of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of punishment and the study of prisons. The line-up for this symposium included Assistant Chief Officer Jim Howe from the Irish Prison Service, Jane Mulcahy from the Irish Penal Reform Trust, Paul Gavin from King's College London, David Langwallner, Dean of Law from GCD, Jacintha Victor-John, LLM graduate of GCD and Dr. Ciarán McCullagh, Senior Lecturer in the Sociology Department of UCC, among others. Dr. McCullagh gave an excellent presentation on prisons and the failure to reform and Jim Howe spoke about the cultural changes which have occurred in the Irish Prison Service over several decades. Other speakers included Sarah Jane Judge from Griffith College Dublin who gave an excellent presentation about sentencing in the Children Court and Elizabeth Craig from University of Ulster spoke about women with mental health issues in the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland. This symposium was the first time academics and practitioners came together to discuss the area of penology and Griffith College Cork provided an excellent forum for this. The symposium was open to all and there were refreshments and lunch provided for over fifty attendees who thoroughly enjoyed this groundbreaking event. It is intended that this will be a biennial event and given the positive response and success of this year's penology symposium, the next event will be one to look forward to.

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