At this Seminar, Ron will discuss his new book Penality and the Underground: The IRA’s Pursuit of Informers (2022, Oxford University Press).

Ron previously completed his PhD at Queens on this topic.  The resultant book draws variously from criminology, sociology, law, anthropology, history, political science and other disciplines to examine the complex understandings of ‘the informer’ and the different ways in which the Republican Movement dealt with informers including extreme violence, amnesties, ‘public pedagogy’ and other strategies.  It also examines the issue of informers in the post-conflict era and the ways in which it has been framed as part of the transition from violence.

The book has been described as:

• ‘breath taking, upending our understanding of punishment and society’  (Prof. Jonathan Simon, University of California, Berkeley),
• ‘outstanding, an intellectual tour de force and a joy to read, it will come to be seen as a classic’ (Prof. Kieran McEvoy, Queen's University Belfast)
• ‘a most important intellectual contribution is to the sociology of punishment, beautifully written’(Prof. Carolyn Hoyle, Oxford University).   

Dr Ron Dudai is a senior lecturer at the department of sociology & anthropology, Ben Gurion University, Israel.  His work has been published in leading journals including British Journal of Sociology, British Journal of Criminology, Law & Social Inquiry, and Punishment & Society. 

He was, among others, a member of the Martin Buber Society of Fellows at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Visiting Scholar at the Mitchell Institute, Queen's University Belfast. 

Ron was awarded the Brian Williams Prize by the British Society of Criminology, and served as co-editor of the Journal of Human Rights Practice.

This event is hosted in partnership with the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, School of Law, Queens University Belfast.