Mary McKenna

BA (Hons) (Flinders)

Lecturer in Legal Studies

Location: Room 273 Humanities
(campus map)
Phone (+61 8) 8201 3856
Fax: (+61 8) 8201 3635
Email: mary.mckenna@flinders.edu.au

Mary's PhD thesis The Social Construction of Parent Blaming investigates the effects on parents of antisocial and illegal adolescent behaviour, focusing on welfare responses to the problems. Data has been collected via a survey of parents and carers of adolescents exhibiting anti-social and/or illegal behaviour and analysed across a range of dimensions in order to identify significant issues. The most noteworthy trend identified is the perceived lack of professional assistance available.

Mary has conducted research on Family Conferencing in the South Australian Juvenile Justice system for her honours thesis and a subsequent Griffith University Department of Criminology research project. She has also worked on a large scale national project researching the everyday work of Magistrates Courts in Australia conducted from the Law School at Flinders University .

In 2001 she was awarded the Flinders University Equal Opportunity medal for her contribution to the promotion of Equal Opportunity principles at Flinders University and within the wider community. Mary also taught extensively in the Foundation Course at Flinders University

Teaching:

LEGL2001: Child Protection
LEGL2002: Researching Juvenile Crime
LEGL3027: Law, Public Health and the Environment
JUSS3000: Seminar in Justice and Society
JUSS3001: Practicum work placement in Justice and Society

Research interests:

The law and young people, specifically Child Protection and Juvenile Crime issues
Family relations: conflicting rights and interests
Parental responsibility and parent blaming

Current supervisions:

Hayley Jordan: Do Class Actions Improve Access to Justice?(PhD)
Rosalie O'Connor: Child and Adolescent Family Violence (PhD)
Tracey Bachli: Honours

Supervisory interests:

Young people and the law
Family relations
Mental health
Family violence
Child and adolescent family violence
Parent abuse
Sibling abuse
Mother blaming