Peer abuse and its contexts in industrial schools in Ireland
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-11-2015-0199 |
| Published date | 11 April 2016 |
| Pages | 76-85 |
| Date | 11 April 2016 |
| Author | Jeremiah J. Lynch,Stephen James Minton |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Aggression, conflict & peace |
Peer abuse and its contexts in industrial
schools in Ireland
Jeremiah J. Lynch and Stephen James Minton
Jeremiah J. Lynch and
Stephen James Minton are
both based at School of
Education, Trinity College
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Abstract
Purpose –In the century from 1868 to 1969, over 105,000 children were detained in industrial schools
in Ireland, having been committed by the courts. The purpose of this paper is to examine, and offer
suggestions regarding the contexts of the peer physical and sexual abuse and bullying that went on in the
industrial schools.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper draws on the accounts of survivors, the results of research
conducted by academics and journalists and recent reports compiled by legislative enquiries into
industrial schools in Ireland, with particular reference being made to the the six industrial schools run by the
Christian Brothers.
Findings –The specific parameters of how the industrial school system developed in Ireland rendered
detainees powerless and voiceless, and these factors also facilitated the physical and sexual abuse of child
and adolescent detainees by adults in this institutions. Serious instances of peer physical and sexual abuse
also went on in these schools. It is argued that such patterns of peer abuse are best understood as occurring
within the psychosocial contexts of primary adjustment, collaboration and re-enactment.
Practical/implications –It is suggested that the context of peer abuse in institutions is important for
researchers and practitioners to attend to.
Originality/value –The realities of life in industrial schools in Ireland has been slow to emerge, due to the
secrecy with which those institutions have been surrounded. Most accounts have focused on abuse at
the hands of adults; this examines peer abuse in those institutions in context.
Keywords Ireland, Re-enactment, Religious orders, Industrial schools, Peer abuse, Psychosocial contexts
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The industrial sch ool system in Ireland , which was to last ov er a century, involv ed the
institutionali sation of generat ions of children in bleak, inhospita ble reformatory s chools, run
entirely autocratically by the religious orders and socially (and more often than not,
geographically) marginalised from the rest of Irish society (Maguire, 2012). With the hand-in-
glove relationsh ip that existed (and some would a rgue, still exists) betwee n Church and State in
Ireland, the publi cation of surviv ors’accounts of the se institutions (C lemenger, 2009; Fin n,
2012; Flynn, 1983; Touher, 2001; Tyrrell, 2006; Wall, 2013), and official investigations into
what took place (Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA), 2009), have been a feature of
only the last 20 years. H owever, what has eme rged is a picture of hor rific incidences a nd
frequencies of phy sical and sexual abu se, which was appa rently commonplac e in these
institutions (CICA, 2009). The abuse was perpetrated on the child and adolescent pupils
by adults; it also –an d hence the submission of th is paper to this special editi on of this
journal –took place between the children and adolescents themselves (CICA, 2009;
Clemenger, 2009; Touher, 2001, 2008; Wall, 2013).
Received 28 November 2015
Accepted 16 December 2015
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JOURNAL OF AGGRESSION, CONFLICTAND PEACE RESEARCH
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VOL. 8 NO. 2 2016, pp.76-85, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1759-6599 DOI 10.1108/JACPR-11-2015-0199
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