Lynn Clarke-Hearty
Supervisor: Dr Deirdre Healy, Associate Professor UCD
Research Area: Criminology & Criminal Justice Name: Lynn Clarke-Hearty
Scholarship/Funding: UCD Sutherland School of Law Doctoral Scholarship
Email: lynn.clarkehearty@ucdconnect.ie / lynnclarkehearty@gmail.com
Thesis Title: How do women, who are serving/have served a sentence of 12 months or less, experience prison and postrelease in the Republic of Ireland?
Abstract: Life after prison and beyond crime is an area of study that continues to spark interest. How people experience imprisonment and release from prison are complex processes that not only involve individual factors but can also be influenced by intimate and/or interpersonal relationships, as well as experiences in the community and contact with state institutions. This research project will
qualitatively explore how twenty women experience short prison sentence(s) and postrelease in the Republic of Ireland. To explore these experiences, this research project will involve two phases.
In Phase 1, the qualitative method Photovoice will be used. This involves photography sessions, group discussions and photo exhibition(s). The women will be provided with cameras to ‘photograph their experiences and understandings’ of prison and release from prison (Fitzgibbon and Stengel, 2018).
Photovoice was chosen to allow women participants to ‘identify, represent and enhance their community through a specific photography technique’ (Wang and Burris, 1997) and to centralise their lived experiences and personal views, meanings and practices in the research (Liebenberg, 2018).
Through an action participatory-based method, women are recognised as co-researchers actively involved in the research process, in data collection, data analysis and dissemination.
In Phase 2, the researcher will conduct a follow-up meeting with the women at least two times, specifically 1-2 months postrelease and again 6-12 months later. Follow-up interviews will be managed in accordance with the women’s circumstances. The purpose of the interview is to check in with the women postrelease to explore their experiences of life after prison, as well as discuss how their experiences of short-term imprisonment have impacted their lives in the community. This will enable an exploration of pathways through change, reentry and desistance in the Irish context.
Biography:
Lynn completed a B.A. Economics, Politics and Law at DCU (First-class Honours) and holds a LL.M Criminology and Criminal Justice from UCD. She was awarded UCD’s Sutherland School of Law Doctoral Scholarship and commenced her doctoral studies in January 2022.
Lynn is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin and is a Part-Time Lecturer in Criminal Law at DCU. Lynn tutors and occasionally lectures in criminology at UCD and has worked on different projects providing research assistance.
With a special interest in mental health awareness and trauma-informed care, Lynn has extensive professional training in domestic abuse, coercive control, childhood trauma, trauma-informed practice, sexual violence and disclosures as well as crisis intervention. Lynn has also participated in workshops that are focused on gender-based violence.
Lynn has an interest in progressing criminal justice reforms through evidence-based research and has a longstanding interest in women’s criminal justice experiences. Her undergraduate and postgraduate research dissertations have both focused on women’s prisons, and the needs of women in custody in Ireland. Combining her growing expertise in gender and crime, with a desire to develop creative and novel approaches in research, her PhD will contribute to knowledge about justice-involved women by
foregrounding marginalised voices and experiences using innovative and creative research methods.
Research funding/awards:
Awarded UCD Sutherland School of Law Doctoral Scholarship.