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Emily Donnellan, member of the Crime, Punishment and Rights Research Cluster, has published a new article.

The article, entitled ‘Women and the Criminal Justice System: Should sentencing in Ireland Adopt a Gender-Sensitive Approach?’ appears in latest volume of the Irish Jurist.

The article considers how a gender-neutral approach to sentencing perpetuates inequality and why gender must then be accounted for during the sentencing process, so that women in the criminal justice system are not further disadvantaged by reason of their gender. The challenges experienced by women in the broader criminal justice system, as well as inconsistencies in sentencing practice, are each discussed. The article then sets out legal bases for considering gender as a factor within the sentencing process, including the constitutional principles of equality and proportionality, the public sector equality and human rights duty and international human rights law. This article therefore concludes that any forthcoming sentencing guidelines should adopt a gender-sensitive approach, both in order to comply with constitutional, national and international law and to promote substantive justice for women in the criminal justice system.

Emily Donnellan, ‘Women and the Criminal Justice System: Should Sentencing in Ireland adopt a Gender-Sensitive Approach? (2026) 74(74) The Irish Jurist 188-201