Abstract

Using a synthesis of documentary analysis and interviews involving former detainees, this article explores the sociology of denial in relation to narratives of state violence which emerged from the conflict in and around Northern Ireland. It argues that three interrelated levels of denial described by Cohen (2001) - literal, interpretive and implicatory - can be observed within the ‘official discourse’ surrounding the conflict, and that these denials are experienced by former detainees in diverse and different ways. The article contributes to the literature on state violence within the discipline of criminology through its exploration of the lived consequences of state denial narratives alongside former detainees who have made their private experiences of victimhood part of a contested public history.