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LAW41050

Academic Year 2025/2026

Coercive Confinement: Theory and Practice (LAW41050)

Subject:
Law
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Law
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Professor Ian O'Donnell
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

During the first fifty years of Irish independence, tens of thousands of men, women and children were detained in psychiatric hospitals, mother and baby homes, Magdalen laundries, reformatory and industrial schools, and prisons. This module examines contemporaneous accounts of what life was like within these places of coercive confinement. It attempts to provide a holistic view of the network of institutions that dominated the Irish landscape, highlighting the respective roles of church, state and family. It offers an explanation for the longevity of the system and the reasons for its ultimate decline. These arguments remain relevant as Irish society continues to grapple with the legacy of its extensive use of institutionalization.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

Critique the social control function of prisons, reformatory and industrial schools, psychiatric hospitals, Magdalen laundries, and mother and baby homes.

Debate the limitations of utilising prison populations as the exclusive measure of a society’s level of punitiveness.

Demonstrate a detailed awareness of the novelty of present penal arrangements in light of a broader historical understanding of coercive confinement.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

24
Autonomous Student Learning

200
Total

224

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Assignment: 1250 word assignment Week 9 Graded No
25
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay: 3750 word essay. Titles will be distributed in teaching week 4 and essays are due on the last Thursday of the semester. Week 12 Graded No
75
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

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