Professor Seán McConville, BSc (Bath) PhD (Cantab) LLD (Cantab) JP

Professor of Law and Public Policy

email: s.mcconville@qmul.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7882 3957
Website: http://www.peaceprocesshistory.org/

Seán McConville has advised government departments and organisations as well as legislatures on both sides of the Atlantic and has a strong interest in the history of punishment as well as contemporary and comparative criminal and penal policy and administration. He has extensive prison related research, consultancy and litigation experience. Defining his field of study broadly he has ventured into architecture and comparative law, publishing (with Matthew Lippman) Islamic Criminal Law and Procedure and (with Leslie Fairweather) Penal Ideas and Prison Architecture, an international survey of the field. Seán McConville has contributed to major UK and US newspapers, is a regular broadcaster and has also published pamphlet contributions to policy debates.

Publications:

Sean McConville's full CV [PDF 40kb]

Volume 3 of the history of imprisonment was published in 2003 by Routledge (Irish Political Prisoners 1848–1922: Theatres of War). Previous books in the series have dealt with eighteenth and nineteenth century penal policy and prison administration (A History of English Prison Administration (1981), and English Local Prisons 1860-1900 (1995)).

Seán McConville edited a collection of commissioned essays The Use of Punishment (Willan, 2003). His own essay dealt with genetics and criminal justice policy. The preparatory work for the book was made possible by funding from the H F Guggenheim Foundation.

Other publications include 'Gentleman Convicts, Dynamitards and Paramilitaries: the Limits of Criminal Justice'; in Bottoms and Tonry (eds), Ideology, Crime and Criminal Justice (Willan, 2003); 'Listening Not Hearing: Political Prisoners and Penal Policy 1906–1920'; in Zedner and Ashworth (eds), The Criminological Foundations of Penal Policy (OUP, Oxford, 2003).

Work on the fourth and fifth volumes of Professor McConville's penal history series is now nearing completion, with publication set for 2012/2013. These books deal with Irish political prisoners from 1920 to 2000. Research has been intensive across the three principal jurisdictions - Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Britain. This research attracted substantial external international funding.

Developing certain themes from the political prisoners’ research, and in collaboration with Dr Anna Bryson, Seán McConville in September 2010 embarked on ‘The Peace Process: Layers of Meaning’. Contacts, information and suggestions are always welcome.

Supervision:

Professor McConville welcomes well thought-out proposals from those wishing to enrol for the MPhil or PhD: penal policy and administration (historical, contemporary and comparative) and related topics in modern Irish history are preferred, but others would be considered.