Biography
Dr Margaret Fitzgerald-O'Reilly, BCL, LLM, PhD (UCC), is an Associate Professor at the School of Law atUL. Prior to her appointment in 2012, she lectured inthe School of Law and Government at DCU. Margarethas an LLM in Criminal Justice and in 2012 was awarded her PhD entitled The Usual Suspects: The LegalMarginalisation of Ex-Prisoners in Irish Society; she was awarded aUniversity President's Scholarship to undertake this research.Her researchinterests are primarily in the field of criminology, penology and criminal justice, inparticular, issues pertaining to criminal records, criminal information sharing and disclosure issues, post-release management of offenders, sentencing and management of sex offenders, social and legal exclusion, techniques of punishment, sentencing, and crimecontrol policies.
She is the author of Uses and Consequences of a Criminal Conviction: Going on the Record of an Offender (UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) and co-author of Sexual Offending in Ireland: Laws, Procedures & Punishment, (Dublin: Clarus Press, 2018). She is currently working on a research monograph towards an International Criminal Records Database: Implications for Risk, Security and Human Rights (Forthcoming 2023: Palgrave Macmillan) and a socio-legal book on Human Rights Law in Modern Policing (Forthcoming 2023: Clarus Press). She has also published in national and international peer reviewed journals and is amember of the Centre for Crime Justice and Victim Studies.
She is supervising PhD candidates researching in the areas of sentencing, prisons and prisoners, and sexual offences. She welcomes applications from candidates interested in these areas and other areas of criminology, offender management and rehabilitation and desistance of offenders.
Research Interests
Dr Margaret Fitzgerald-O'Reilly's research research interests are primarily in the field of criminology, penology and criminal justice, in particular, issues pertaining to criminal records, criminal information sharing and disclosure issues, post-release management of offenders, sentencing and management of sex offenders, social and legal exclusion, techniques of punishment, sentencing, and crime control policies. She has published books and papers, nationally and internationally and is a member of the Centre for Crime Justice and Victim Studies.Professional Activities
Award
- 2022 - AHSS winner of the Excellence in Teaching Award 2022
- 2017 - Faculty Research Board Funding
- 2017 - Teaching Funding
- 2007 - Presidents Scholarship Award, UCC
Committee
- 2019 UL Quality Assurance Board for Garda College Templemore, Accreditation of Garda Training programmes (Templemore)
- 2012 Ethics Commitee,
Association
- Member, Irish Association of Law Teachers
- Member, Irish Penal Reform Trust
- Member, European Society of Criminology
- Member of Working Group, Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development