Towards Historical Victimology: Revisiting Joyriding in 1980s Ireland

• In Event: EHC-WG Panel 5: Victims and Vulnerable Groups in Historical Criminology

Abstract

While historical criminologists to date have examined a variety of fascinating topics ranging from female imprisonment in Malta (Knepper and Scicluna 2010) to the history of alcohol regulation (Yeomans 2024), a sustained victim-centred approach within historical criminology has not yet emerged. This paper scopes out the potential for development of historical victimology - namely the adoption of a victim-centred approach, situated within wider historical, political and cultural contexts, when examining the multidimensionality of time. Based on original archival research, it grounds its discussion in a case study of joyriding in 1980s Ireland. A combination of rising car ownership, media panic and victim mobilisation pressurised a political response. Legislative and institutional measures proved disproportionate and panicked. Cultural artefacts including a play Joyriders (1987, written by Christina Reid) and eponymous film (1988, directed by Aisling Walsh) illustrate the concept of the ‘creativity of crime’ by highlighting the impact of the Troubles and gender politics on representations of joyriding and victimhood. The paper argues that adopting a victim-centred approach not only means drawing attention to details of victims impacted by joyriding and the formation of victims’ rights groups in Ireland (though these are important dimensions). It also means highlighting the historical contingency of victimhood, the complex representations of joyriding on both sides of the Irish border, and the forgetting (or reimagining) of victimhood to serve contemporary needs. In doing so, this paper offers a useful template for researchers who wish to further a historical victimology approach.

Author

• Ciara Molloy, School of Law, University of Sheffield