Dr Karen Brennan
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Email
kbrennan@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 874832
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Location
4SB.5.17, Colchester Campus
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Academic support hours
Monday 09:00 - 10:00 and Thursday 14:00 - 15:00
Profile
Biography
Dr Karen Brennan is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Essex. She holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (2000, University College Dublin), and a PhD (2007, University College Dublin). She was awarded a Government of Ireland Scholarship by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2002-2004). Prior to joining the University of Essex in 2012, she held a lectureship at Queen's University Belfast (2006-2011), and also acted as researcher to the Criminal Law Rapporteur on the Legal Protection of Children in the Republic of Ireland (July 2006 - December 2007). Her research and teaching interests are in the area of criminal justice, with a particular focus on socio-historical and gendered issues. She recently co-edited a book on women and the criminal justice system (Women and Criminal Justice System: Failing Victims and Offenders? Palgrave-Macmillan, forthcoming 2018). She has published extensively on the subject of infanticide in national and international journals, taking a socio-legal, historical, and feminist approach to this subject. She has also published on abortion and family homicide. Her work engages with a range of themes, including social norms, compassion, medicalisation, and reproductive rights. She is currently developing her research across three areas: maternal obligation to the foetus/newborn child, with a particular focus on the criminalisation of women who harm the foetus/baby; obstetric violence; and assisted dying.
Qualifications
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BCL (University College Dublin), 2000
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PhD (University College Dublin), 2007
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
Gender and Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice History
Current research
Compassion, Assisted Dying and the Law
Criminalising Obstetric Violence
Maternal Obligation and the Foetus/Newborn Child
Socio-legal, Historical and Feminist approaches to Infanticide
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Law of Evidence (LW316)
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Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice: Law, Policy and Practice (LW349)
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Law
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 25/1/2018
Publications
Journal articles (6)
Brennan, K., (2019). Murderous Mothers & Gentle Judges: Paternalism,Patriarchy, and Infanticide. Yale Journal of Law and Feminism. 30 (1)
Brennan, K., (2018). Social Norms and the Law in responding to Infanticide. Legal Studies. 38 (3), 480-499
Brennan, KM., (2013). “A Fine Mixture of Pity and Justice:” The Criminal Justice Response to Infanticide in Ireland, 1922–1949. Law and History Review. 31 (4), 793-841
Brennan, K., (2013). Punishing Infanticide in the Irish Free State. Irish Journal of Legal Studies. 3 (1)
Brennan, K., (2013). Traditions of English Liberal Thought: a History of the Enactment of an Infanticide Law in Ireland. Irish Jurist. 50, 100-137
Brennan, K., (2007). Beyond the Medical Model: A Rationale for Infanticide Legislation. Northern Ireland legal quarterly.. 58 (4), 505-535
Books (3)
Brennan, K. and Milne, E., (2023). 100 Years of the Infanticide Act Legacy, Impact and Future Directions. Bloomsbury Publishing. 1509961666. 9781509961665
(2018). Women and the Criminal Justice System. Springer International Publishing. 3319767747. 9783319767734
Milne, E., Brennan, K., South, N. and Turton, J., (2018). Erratum to: Women and the Criminal Justice System. Springer International Publishing. 9783319767734
Book chapters (7)
Brennan, K. and Milne, E., (2023). 100 Years of Infanticide: Law in Context. In: 100 Years of the Infanticide Act: Legacy, Impact and Future Directions. Editors: Brennan, K. and Milne, E., . Bloomsbury Publishing. 1- 46
Milne, E. and Brennan, K., (2023). The Infanticide Act 1938 as a Means to Provide Justice for Women against the Hardships and Harms of Pregnancy and Motherhood. In: 100 Years of the Infanticide Act Legacy, Impact and Future Directions. Editors: Brennan, K. and Milne, E., . Bloomsbury Publishing. 143- 170. 1509961666. 9781509961665
Brennan, K., (2019). Reflections on Criminalising Obstetric Violence: A Feminist Perspective. In: Childbirth, Vulnerability and Law. Editors: Pickles, C. and Herring, J., . Routledge. 226- 226. 9780429443718
Brennan, K. and Milne, E., (2018). Criminalising Neonaticide: Reflections on Law and Practice in England and Wales. In: Women and the Criminal Justice System. Springer International Publishing. 95- 117. 9783319767734
Brennan, K., Milne, E., South, N. and Turton, J., (2018). Women and the Criminal Justice System—Moving Beyond the Silo. In: Women and the Criminal Justice System. Springer International Publishing. 1- 11. 9783319767734
Howlin, N., Costello, K. and Brennan, K., (2017). Murder in the Irish Family, 1930–1945. In: Law and the Family in Ireland, 1800–1950. Palgrave Macmillan UK. 160- 180. 9781137606389
Brennan, K., (2008). The State of Abortion Law in Northern Ireland. In: The Unborn Child, Article 40.3.3 and Abortion in Ireland: 25 Years of Protection?. Editors: Schweppe, J., . Liffey Press. 247- 275. 9781905785513
Other (4)
Brennan, K. and Milne, E., (2019).Infanticide: Guarding Against Harshness. New Law Journal. 169(7824),New Law Journal
Brennan, K. and Milne, E., (2019).Infanticide,John Wiley & Sons
Milne, E. and Brennan, K., (2019).Infanticide, Neonaticide, Gender,John Wiley & Sons
Brennan, K. and Milne, E., (2018).The Law of Infanticide is Supposed to Provide Merciful Treatment for Vulnerable Mothers,The Conversation
Contact
Academic support hours:
Monday 09:00 - 10:00 and Thursday 14:00 - 15:00
