Transforming Justice: An All-Island Examination of Justice Responses to Historical Institutional Abuse

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CONTEXTHistorical institutional abuses (HIA) of women and children in state and church-run institutions have come to light internationally. The island of Ireland (North and South) has had a recent concentration of commissions of investigation/public inquiries on HIA, some ongoing. Many of these responses have been criticised by victims/survivors, including for inadequate follow-through, for failing to bring justice or healing or hold responsible individuals and the state to account. This is an important moment to reflect on justice responses to HIA across the island of Ireland and how they compare to efforts internationally. A key part of the originality of the proposal lies in the holistic, thematic analysis across a range of justice responses on an all-Island, transdisciplinary and empirical basis. The new research network will bring together leading researchers from complementary fields - law, criminology, sociology, social policy, social work, restorative justice, transitional justice and human rights. The research critically examines justice approaches, including public inquiries or commissions of investigation, civil cases, prosecutions and apologies. The main hypothesis is that a complex range of factors have impeded just responses to HIA and blurred lines of accountability at state, organisational and individual levels. AIMUsing the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (ROI)) as a case-study, the project seeks to:1. capture the learning from those central to justice processes surrounding HIA and the experiences of other countries over the last two decades in order to enhance experiences and outcomes for victims.2. enhance my research capabilities and intellectual leadership via developing a new research network and a new transdisciplinary justice paradigm, supporting the development of more early career researchers, and furthering public engagement with a wider range of stakeholders.OBJECTIVES1. To explore a range of themes concerning justice responses to HIA including: historical and cultural contexts; the Church-State relationship; legal and ideological barriers to justice; the complexities and dynamics of HIA; the multifarious needs of victims; and the possibilities of transformative justice.2. To conduct a multi-strand research methodology involving: (i) an extensive transdisciplinary analysis of academic and policy literature; (ii) comparative documentary analysis of a sample of public inquiries/commissions of investigation and apologies globally; and (iii) semi-structured interviews with victims/survivors and their advocates and elite-level stakeholders.3. To develop a new evidenced-based transdisciplinary justice paradigm, drawing on the theoretical literature on restorative and transitional justice, approaches in other countries and new primary research.4. To broaden public engagement with stakeholders in other jurisdictions (in ROI and internationally) by disseminating the findings and high-quality academic and policy outputs through a project website, a range of stakeholder and public engagement activities, and presentations at national and international conferences.POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITSThe empirical focus on the Island of Ireland will be fully contextualised internationally. Thus, the research will be of relevance to other jurisdictions grappling with the legacy of HIA currently and in the future. This research on one of the most significant societal problems of our times will provide a guiding standard to enhance official and public understanding of redress experiences across Ireland and elsewhere, thereby improving accountability and experiences and outcomes for victims. In particular, one of the policy outputs will be a 'blue print' for what victims want from justice processes which will be of direct relevance to policy makers and advocacy groups involved in designing or campaigning for redress for HIA.