Dr Louise Brangan

I joined the Faculty of Social Sciences as a Lecturer in Criminology in 2019.

Prior to working at Stirling I was a researcher and the Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the Howard League Scotland and before to moving to Scotland I worked as an intern with the Irish Penal Reform Trust.

I completed my PhD in Criminology at the University of Edinburgh in 2017. In 2015 I was a visiting Fulbright scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society at UC Berkeley. My first article, 'Civilising Imprisonment', won the British Society of Criminology's best article prize for a paper produced by a new scholar.

My research interests focus on the sociology of punishment, particularly comparative and historical study of imprisonment, penal culture and penal politics. My forthcoming book 'The Politics of Punishment' is an examination of penality in Ireland and Scotland from 1970 until the end of the 1990s. Read a short synopsis of the book here: https://icrnetwork.ie/2021/03/09/the-politics-of-punishment/

I am is currently on maternity leave. When I return I will begin an ESRC New Investigator funded study of Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes, "Mass Decarceration: A critical social history'. Read a short synopsis of the proposal here: https://sccjrblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/31/mass-decarceration-a-critical-social-history/

I also have a keen interest in supporting ECRs. With Cara Jardine (Strathclyde), I co-organised a series of ECR workshops. I am also a member of the SCCJR ECR committee and through this have helped organised writing retreats and training for ECRs.

Publications

Brangan L (2021) Pastoral penality in 1970s Ireland: Addressing the pains of imprisonment. Theoretical Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480619843295

Brangan, L. (2020) Exceptional states: The political geography of comparative penology. in Punishment & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474520915995

Brangan L (2019) Civilising Imprisonment: The Limits of Scottish Penal Exceptionalism. British Journal of Criminology, 59 (4), pp. 780-799. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azy057

Bird, J., Brangan, L. & Sparks, R., (2016) The Politics of Imprisonment Handbook on Prisons. Jewkes, Y., Crewe, B. & Bennett, J. (eds.). 2nd ed. Routledge

'The Politics of Punishment: A comparative study of imprisonment and political culture', (forthcoming), Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Politics-of-Punishment-A-Comparative-Study-of-Imprisonment-and-Political/Brangan/p/book/9780367900724

sociology of punishment, penal culture, cultural sociology, social history, archival research, qualitative methods, comparative penality, historical criminology.

CRMU9T4 Crime and Criminal Justice CRMP010 Criminological Perspectives