Dr Mary Corcoran

Title: Lecturer in Criminology
Phone: (+44) 01782 7 33104
Email:
Location: CBB 1.035
Role: Director of Undergraduate Studies
Contacting me: Office Hours - Weds 1.30 - 2.15 and Thurs 9-10
Corcoran_Mary

Mary Corcoran joined the Criminology programme at Keele University in September 2005. She has published a monograph on imprisonment and resistance of women political prisoners in Northern Ireland, as well as journal articles in the ‘British Journal of Criminology’ and ‘Criminal Justice Matters’, and chapters in edited collections.

My research and published output to date spans prisons, resettlement and community-based justice; women in criminal justice; and civil society/voluntary sector actors in criminal justice.  My PhD thesis, a feminist, Foucauldian ethnography of women political prisoners in Northern Ireland, appeared in print in 2006 as Out of Order: The Political Imprisonment of Women in Northern Ireland, 1972-1996. My current research responds to changes in the relationship between markets, states and civil society and their consequences for criminal justice. That work critically engages with the ethics, practice and politics of civil society and private sector actors in criminal justice spheres.  I seek to develop theoretical insights through the analysis of grounded practice in research projects on diversionary and resettlement projects for women, peer mentoring and support for released prisoners.  I have recently published on the challenges posed by marketisation in criminal justice. Secondly, I have published on the mobilisation of communities in ‘partnerships’ in local justice and community-based punishment.  Thirdly, I have conducted empirical research on community-based ‘alternative’ disposals for criminalised women.  My current research projects are on mentoring for and by women in custody and the community, and integrated offender management in Staffordshire.

Postgraduate Supervision

I have supervised several Masters dissertations in the areas of imprisonment; women in custody and community-based programmes; inter-agency work among criminal justice professionals; commissioning and procurement; voluntary sector agencies in criminal justice, among other topics.   I have supervised successful doctoral projects on the Listener peer mentoring programme in prisons,  and desistance amongst minority ethnic offenders as well as M Phil projects on women’s transition from prison to the community and men prisoners’ experiences of mandatory life sentences.   I am currently supervising PhD projects on the post-sentence identities of ex-offenders and The voluntary sector role in peer-mentoring for and by former-offenders .

Selected Publications

  • Corcoran MS and Fox C. 2013. A little bit neo-liberal, a little bit Fabian: interventionist narratives in a diversionary programme for women. In Women Exiting Prison: Critical Essays on Gender, Post-release Support and Survival. Carlton B and Segrave M (Eds.). London: Routledge.
  • Corcoran MS. 2012. 'Be careful what you ask for': findings from the seminar series on the 'Third Sector in Criminal Justice'. Prison Service Journal, 17-22.
  • Corcoran MS and Fox C. 2012. 'A seamless partnership?' Developing multi-agency interventions in a non-custodial diversionary project for women. Criminology and Criminal Justice. doi>
  • Corcoran MS, Fox C, Worrall A. 2011. Chepstow House Community Project for Women Offenders.
  • CORCORAN MS. 2011. Dilemmas of institutionalization in the penal voluntary sector. Critical Social Policy, vol. 31(1), 30-52. doi> link>

Full Publications List show

Books

  • CORCORAN MS. 2006. Out of Order: The Political Imprisonment of Women in Northern Ireland, 1972-1999. Willan Publishing.

Journal Articles

  • Corcoran MS. 2012. 'Be careful what you ask for': findings from the seminar series on the 'Third Sector in Criminal Justice'. Prison Service Journal, 17-22.
  • Corcoran MS and Fox C. 2012. 'A seamless partnership?' Developing multi-agency interventions in a non-custodial diversionary project for women. Criminology and Criminal Justice. doi>
  • CORCORAN MS. 2011. Dilemmas of institutionalization in the penal voluntary sector. Critical Social Policy, vol. 31(1), 30-52. doi> link>
  • CORCORAN M. 2010. Snakes and Ladders: circuits of penal reform for women under New Labour. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, vol. 22(2), 233-251.
  • CORCORAN M. 2008. What does government want from the penal voluntary sector?. Criminal Justice Matters, vol. 77(1), 36-38. link>
  • CORCORAN MS. 2007. Normalization and its Discontents: Constructing the ‘Irreconcilable' Female Political Prisoner in Northern Ireland. British Journal of Criminology, vol. 47(3), 405-422. doi>
  • CORCORAN M. Bringing the penal voluntary sector to market. Criminal Justice Matters, vol. 77(1), 32-33. link>

Chapters

  • Corcoran MS and Fox C. 2013. A little bit neo-liberal, a little bit Fabian: interventionist narratives in a diversionary programme for women. In Women Exiting Prison: Critical Essays on Gender, Post-release Support and Survival. Carlton B and Segrave M (Eds.). London: Routledge.
  • CORCORAN MS. 2006. 'Talking about resistance' : women political prisoners and the dynamics of prison conflict, Northern Ireland. In Expanding the Criminological Imagination: Critical Readings in Criminology. Barton A, Corteen K, Scott D, Whyte D (Eds.). Willan Publishing.
  • CORCORAN MS. 2005. Researching women political prisoners in Northern Ireland : ethnographic problems and negotiations. In Researching Gender and Violence. Skinner T, Malos E, Hester M (Eds.). Willan Publishing .

Other

  • Corcoran MS, Fox C, Worrall A. 2011. Chepstow House Community Project for Women Offenders.

I teach or have recently taught on courses on penality; ethics in criminal justice; gender and social control; criminal justice policy; criminological theory; qualitative research methods.  I have completed accredited training in doctoral Supervision.  I have been nominated twice for a Keele University Teaching and Learning Excellence Award (2012 & 2013) for my course on Prisons and Imprisonment and for the innovation of Working for Justice, which integrates personal, career and academic development in answer to the employability agenda. I am currently Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Criminology Programme.

Current courses:

Prisons and Imprisonment

Working for Justice

MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice