Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

The Victim of Historical Child Sexual Abuse in the Irish Courts 1999–2006

Ring, Sinéad (2017) The Victim of Historical Child Sexual Abuse in the Irish Courts 1999–2006. Social & Legal Studies, 26 (5). pp. 562-580. ISSN 0964-6639. E-ISSN 1461-7390. (doi:10.1177/0964663917694706) (KAR id:62141)

Abstract

In recent years, Ireland has been rocked by revelations of historical child sexual abuse. This has led to a variety of state responses but one question remains particularly difficult to answer: why did the sexual abuse of children go unrecognized as a societal problem for so long? This article seeks answers by scrutinizing cases in which defendants sought to have their trial prohibited because of the delayed reporting. It explores the legal test used in the period 1999–2006, which focussed on the abuser’s ‘dominion’ over the victim. The use of the notion of dominion elicited valuable information about the reasons for the delay and how children were silenced. Uncovering these stories is essential to understanding the dynamics of child sexual abuse. However, a critical reading of the delay cases that draws on feminist critiques of battered woman’s syndrome and rape trauma syndrome reveals law’s power to impose hegemonic discourses onto victims and to produce new histories. Under the dominion paradigm, the courts distorted victims’ accounts of their experiences and sidelined stories that pointed towards a culture of indifference to abuse. Thus, law is shown to occupy a paradoxical position in relation to Ireland’s history of child sexual abuse.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/0964663917694706
Uncontrolled keywords: Battered woman’s syndrome, feminism, historical child sexual abuse, Ireland, law and history, rape trauma syndrome, victims
Subjects: K Law
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > Kent Law School
Depositing User: Sinead Ring
Date Deposited: 26 Jun 2017 08:06 UTC
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2024 10:56 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/62141 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Ring, Sinéad.

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:
  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.