Professor Shane Kilcommins launched Dr Paul Sargent's book, Wild Arabs and Savages: a history of juvenile justice in Ireland , in the Common Room, Trinity College Dublin on Wednesday 5th March.  The book describes the transformation of the Irish Juvenile Justice System over the last 150 years. Adopting a  governmentality approach, it focuses on the practices, the nature of the way we govern and are governed,  mapping change, and the nature of coordination (or lack of coordination as the  case may be).  What it emphasises is the bit part role played by the state in the development and management of juvenile justice from the mid nineteenth century to the late twentieth century, particularly in relation to reformatory and industrial schools. This was brought about in part by the hegemony of the Catholic Church, the Irish government’s absentee status regarding policy in the field, and the dearth of criminological and penological knowledge.

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