Criminology & Criminal Justice
The CSER has a long history of involvement in original, dynamic and innovative research pertaining to young people at risk of and/or already involved in offending behaviour and the identification of appropriate strategies to reduce the risk of (re)offending behaviour and improving the life prospects and opportunities of such young people.
In an attempt to build research strength in the field of criminology, the School of Social Sciences and Legal Studies and the CSER was awarded a substantial government grant in 2002 to carry out a three year programme which included the recruitment of a full-time postdoctoral research fellow, a part-time research development officer, three doctoral students, the buying-out of time for two permanent members of academic faculty and supporting the recruitment of two new criminologists onto the Social Science faculty. In addition to conducting new empirical research, the project created a national archive of youth crime research resources, ran a two year seminar series with visiting expert speakers, developed a new taught Master's programme in Criminology (due to commence in September, 2006), supported several knowledge-transfer visits to European and American destinations and published a substantial number of peer-reviewed scholarly papers. In September 2005, as part of this programme, the Institute hosted a national conference on the theme of Youth Crime in Ireland: Research, Policy and Practice which brought together researchers, academics, policy makers and NGOs to address some of the most pertinent issues within the general arena of youth crime in Ireland providing for analysis and discussion across the various sectors present.
Additional projects completed by the Centre relating to Juvenile Crime and Youth Justice include the EUROARRC Project, 'Care to Listen: A Review of Residential Childcare In Four European Countries' (1998), 'Safe Caring in Residential Childcare, The Irish Report of the European Study' (1999), 'A Small Impact Study of Outcomes of Assessment of Young Offenders' (for the National Assessment and Remand Centre, 1999), 'An Evaluation of the Grove Through Care Unit' (Finglas Child and Adolescent Centre, 2000), 'Study of Participants in the Garda Special Projects' (Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform, 2001), 'Parents, Children and Prison, The Effects of Parental Imprisonment on Children' (2002), 'The Crime Prevention Directory' (2002) and 'The Garda Youth Diversion Project Guidelines' (2003).