The Kerry Babies, criminology, and Reinhart Koselleck

The Kerry Babies case was a criminal investigation that followed the discovery of a dead infant on a beach in the southwest of Ireland in April 1984. Charges were laid and dismissed. A tribunal of inquiry into alleged police malpractice followed, and the case returned to the courts 35 years later. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Molloy, Ciara (Author)
Contributors: O’Donnell, Ian
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2025
In: Criminology & criminal justice
Year: 2025, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 530-548
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Keywords:
unmarried motherhood
Temporality
Reinhart Koselleck
Kerry Babies
Historical criminology
Description
Summary:The Kerry Babies case was a criminal investigation that followed the discovery of a dead infant on a beach in the southwest of Ireland in April 1984. Charges were laid and dismissed. A tribunal of inquiry into alleged police malpractice followed, and the case returned to the courts 35 years later. This paper takes a multidimensional approach to historical time, drawing on the works of German philosopher Reinhart Koselleck to analyse the case, its legacy, and its implications for criminological theory. A Koselleckian approach – drawing in particular on the role of anachronisms, the mobilisation of memory and the categories of experience and expectation – facilitates a novel perspective on child killing, unmarried motherhood, and policing in 20th-century Ireland.
ISSN:1748-8966
DOI:10.1177/17488958221126674