On Thursday August 1st, 2019, Dr Ian Marder participated in a panel discussion on Today FM’s The Last Word. This segment was on the subject of alternatives to imprisonment, as part of a week-long series on prisons and criminal justice in Ireland.
Dr Marder was invited to discuss restorative justice, remarking on its potential benefits for victims and offenders, and its growing, if limited, availability in Ireland. The panel also spoke about drug courts, community sentences and youth justice.
Dr Marder is currently coordinating a project, with colleagues from the Probation Service, the Maynooth University Kennedy Institute and Ulster University, to develop the use of restorative justice and restorative practices in the Irish criminal justice system. He is also coordinating the wider European project involving ten countries in the same goal.
He was joined on The Last Word by Fíona Ní Chinnéide, Executive Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust and Mark Kennedy, Head of Recovery Services at the Merchant's Quay Project.
You can listen to their discussion here.