School of Law

Dr Louise Kennefick

  • Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law (Law)

telephone: Ext 7462
email: Louise.Kennefick@gla.systa-s.com

Room 427, Sir Alexander Stone Building, 16 University Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QL

Import to contacts

Biography

Louise Kennefick joined the University of Glasgow in 2022 as Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law, having previously worked as lecturer and associate professor at Maynooth University, Ireland. She qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales before completing her doctoral thesis in the area of criminal responsibility at University College Cork in 2011.

Louise researches across the fields of criminal law theory, criminal justice and criminology. She is particularly curious about how and why we blame each other, and the impact of condemnation on the person and the community. Her work in the area of community supervision involves constructing grounded theoretical frameworks by mining the lived experiences of core stakeholders within the probation field through the application of qualitative methodologies. She is the recipient of a RSE Personal Fellowship (2026), Glasgow Law Fellowship, SLS Research Activities Award, and an IRC ‘New Ideas’ Award for her work on criminal responsibility and excuse, in addition to funding from the European COST Network and the Department of Justice and Equality (Ireland) for her research in the area of offender supervision. Her monograph, 'The Boundaries of Blame: Towards a Universal Partial Defence for the Criminal Law' was published with Cambridge University Press in 2025.

Centre for Public Policy Affiliated Researcher.

Research interests

Louise's research concerns criminal law, criminal law theory, and criminal justice. She is particularly interested in themes relating to responsibility attribution, agency, excuse, and the interaction between social justice and criminal law and justice.  Her work in the field of criminology focuses on the history of probation, community supervision, and desistance from crime.

Louise welcome's proposals for doctoral supervision that fall within her areas of interest.

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2015
Number of items: 18.

2025

Marder, Ian, Guilfoyle, Eoin, Kennefick, Louise, Maguire, Niamh and Carr, Nicola (2025) Opinion: Community sanctions make us all safer – here’s how to support them. Irish Legal News, Nov. 2025.

Kennefick, Louise (2025) The Boundaries of Blame: Towards a Universal Partial Defence for the Criminal Law. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, United Kingdom. ISBN 9781009386104 (doi: 10.1017/9781009386142)

Enright, M. et al. (2025) Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation report: alternative executive summary. feminists@law, 14(1), (doi: 10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.1396)

2024

Crofts, Thomas, Kennefick, Louise and Loughnan, Arlie (2024) Introduction. In: Crofts, Thomas, Kennefick, Louise and Loughnan, Arlie (eds.) Routledge International Handbook on Criminal Responsibility. Routledge. ISBN 9781032284439 (doi: 10.4324/9781003297260-1)

Kennefick, Louise (2024) Criminal responsibility attribution as a step on the road to desistance? Exploring theoretical intersections. In: Crofts, Thomas, Kennefick, Louise and Loughnan, Arlie (eds.) Routledge International Handbook on Criminal Responsibility. Routledge. ISBN 9781032284439 (doi: 10.4324/9781003297260-7)

Crofts, Thomas, Kennefick, Louise and Loughnan, Arlie (Eds.) (2024) Routledge International Handbook on Criminal Responsibility. Routledge. (Accepted for Publication)

2023

Guilfoyle, Eoin and Kennefick, Louise (2023) A Tripartite Strategy for Unpaid Work in the Community. Documentation. HM Inspectorate of Probation; Academic Insights.

Healy, Deirdre and Kennefick, Louise (2023) ‘Advise, assist and befriend’: client perspectives on probation from the 1980s to present-day. Working Notes, 37(92), pp. 4-11.

2022

Kennefick, Louise and Guilfoyle, Eoin (2022) An Evidence Review of Community Service Policy, Practice and Structure. Documentation. Irish Probation Service.

Kennefick, Louise (2022) Beyond homicide? The feasibility of extending the doctrine of partial excuse across all offence categories. Criminal Law Forum, 33(4), pp. 323-357. (doi: 10.1007/s10609-022-09446-4)

Kennefick, Louise, Healy, Deirdre and Wade, Niamh (2022) ‘Helping, hurting, holding and hands off’: preliminary findings from an oral history of probation client experiences of supervision in Ireland. Irish Probation Journal, 19, pp. 38-55.

Healey, Deirdre and Kennefick, Louise (2022) The past in the present: a historical perspective on probation work at the intersection between the penal voluntary and criminal justice sectors. In: Black, Lynsey, Brangan, Louise and Healy, Deirdre (eds.) Histories of Punishment and Social Control in Ireland: Perspectives from the Periphery. Emerald Publishing. ISBN 9781800436077

2021

Kennefick, Louise, Healy, Deirdre and Wade, Niamh (2021) Understanding probation supervision in Ireland: what can we learn from an historical approach? Probation Quarterly(22), pp. 8-12. (doi: 10.54006/FEYT1610)

2020

Kennefick, Louise (2020) Verdict as a site of social (in)justice: more groundwork for a multivalent approach. Howard League for Penal Reform ECAN Bulletin(44), pp. 10-17.

2019

Healy, Deirdre and Kennefick, Louise (2019) Hidden voices: practitioner perspectives on the early histories of probation in Ireland. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 19(3), pp. 346-363. (doi: 10.1177/1748895817746713)

2018

Durnescu, Ioan, Kennefick, Louise, Sucic, Ines and Glavak Tkalic, Renata (2018) Experiencing offender supervision in Europe: the Eurobarometer – lessons from the pilot study. Probation Journal, 65(1), pp. 7-26. (doi: 10.1177/0264550517748360)

2015

Kennefick, Louise (2015) Case notes and comments: DPP v Hustveit: suspended sentence for rape in Ireland – an appropriate response? Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 66(3), pp. 289-295. (doi: 10.53386/nilq.v66i3.154)

Kennefick, Louise (2015) Can therapeutic jurisprudence provide a normative link between recent trends in criminal law theory and criminal justice practices? Arizona Summit Law Review, 8(3), pp. 223-236.

This list was generated on Fri Jan 30 22:31:31 2026 GMT.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Edited Books | Research Reports or Papers
Number of items: 18.

Articles

Marder, Ian, Guilfoyle, Eoin, Kennefick, Louise, Maguire, Niamh and Carr, Nicola (2025) Opinion: Community sanctions make us all safer – here’s how to support them. Irish Legal News, Nov. 2025.

Enright, M. et al. (2025) Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation report: alternative executive summary. feminists@law, 14(1), (doi: 10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.1396)

Healy, Deirdre and Kennefick, Louise (2023) ‘Advise, assist and befriend’: client perspectives on probation from the 1980s to present-day. Working Notes, 37(92), pp. 4-11.

Kennefick, Louise (2022) Beyond homicide? The feasibility of extending the doctrine of partial excuse across all offence categories. Criminal Law Forum, 33(4), pp. 323-357. (doi: 10.1007/s10609-022-09446-4)

Kennefick, Louise, Healy, Deirdre and Wade, Niamh (2022) ‘Helping, hurting, holding and hands off’: preliminary findings from an oral history of probation client experiences of supervision in Ireland. Irish Probation Journal, 19, pp. 38-55.

Kennefick, Louise, Healy, Deirdre and Wade, Niamh (2021) Understanding probation supervision in Ireland: what can we learn from an historical approach? Probation Quarterly(22), pp. 8-12. (doi: 10.54006/FEYT1610)

Kennefick, Louise (2020) Verdict as a site of social (in)justice: more groundwork for a multivalent approach. Howard League for Penal Reform ECAN Bulletin(44), pp. 10-17.

Healy, Deirdre and Kennefick, Louise (2019) Hidden voices: practitioner perspectives on the early histories of probation in Ireland. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 19(3), pp. 346-363. (doi: 10.1177/1748895817746713)

Durnescu, Ioan, Kennefick, Louise, Sucic, Ines and Glavak Tkalic, Renata (2018) Experiencing offender supervision in Europe: the Eurobarometer – lessons from the pilot study. Probation Journal, 65(1), pp. 7-26. (doi: 10.1177/0264550517748360)

Kennefick, Louise (2015) Case notes and comments: DPP v Hustveit: suspended sentence for rape in Ireland – an appropriate response? Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 66(3), pp. 289-295. (doi: 10.53386/nilq.v66i3.154)

Kennefick, Louise (2015) Can therapeutic jurisprudence provide a normative link between recent trends in criminal law theory and criminal justice practices? Arizona Summit Law Review, 8(3), pp. 223-236.

Books

Kennefick, Louise (2025) The Boundaries of Blame: Towards a Universal Partial Defence for the Criminal Law. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, United Kingdom. ISBN 9781009386104 (doi: 10.1017/9781009386142)

Book Sections

Crofts, Thomas, Kennefick, Louise and Loughnan, Arlie (2024) Introduction. In: Crofts, Thomas, Kennefick, Louise and Loughnan, Arlie (eds.) Routledge International Handbook on Criminal Responsibility. Routledge. ISBN 9781032284439 (doi: 10.4324/9781003297260-1)

Kennefick, Louise (2024) Criminal responsibility attribution as a step on the road to desistance? Exploring theoretical intersections. In: Crofts, Thomas, Kennefick, Louise and Loughnan, Arlie (eds.) Routledge International Handbook on Criminal Responsibility. Routledge. ISBN 9781032284439 (doi: 10.4324/9781003297260-7)

Healey, Deirdre and Kennefick, Louise (2022) The past in the present: a historical perspective on probation work at the intersection between the penal voluntary and criminal justice sectors. In: Black, Lynsey, Brangan, Louise and Healy, Deirdre (eds.) Histories of Punishment and Social Control in Ireland: Perspectives from the Periphery. Emerald Publishing. ISBN 9781800436077

Edited Books

Crofts, Thomas, Kennefick, Louise and Loughnan, Arlie (Eds.) (2024) Routledge International Handbook on Criminal Responsibility. Routledge. (Accepted for Publication)

Research Reports or Papers

Guilfoyle, Eoin and Kennefick, Louise (2023) A Tripartite Strategy for Unpaid Work in the Community. Documentation. HM Inspectorate of Probation; Academic Insights.

Kennefick, Louise and Guilfoyle, Eoin (2022) An Evidence Review of Community Service Policy, Practice and Structure. Documentation. Irish Probation Service.

This list was generated on Fri Jan 30 22:31:31 2026 GMT.

Grants

2025 RSE Personal Fellowship Award

2025 Evaluation of Integrated Community Service, Irish Probation Service

2025 Modern Law Review Seminar Funding Award

2024 RIS International Collaboration Award

2021 Evidence Review of Community Service, Irish Probation Service

2020 Glasgow Law Fellow, University of Glasgow, Scotland

2018 Research Activities Fund Award, Society of Legal Scholars

2017 Research Funding for Histories of Probation project (with D. Healy,  UCD), Department of Justice and Equality (Ireland)            

2015 Research Enhancement Award, Maynooth University

2013 Short-term Scientific Mission Award, Oral Histories Project, European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) Action Network                    

2011 New Ideas Award, Irish Research Council

 

 

Supervision

2025 CoSS/USYD Joint PhD Programme Funding - to co-supervise a 3 year PhD Studentship with Uni of Sydney on Legitimating Criminal Responsibility in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

  • XU, RENYI
    Criminal Law and Artificial Intelligence ---- On The Criminal Attribution of Crimes Involving Artificial Intelligence

Teaching

- Criminal Law of England and Wales

- Criminal Responsibility

- Criminal Justice Issues

- Foundations of Evidence Law