This week, Dr Ian Marder gave a series of presentations and master’s classes in the Czech Republic and Northern Ireland. In both jurisdictions, he is working with local practitioners, policymakers and academics to determine how best to develop restorative justice in the criminal justice context.
With the support of Wendy Cameron from the International Office, Dr Marder obtained Erasmus+ funding to support his visit to the Czech Republic (29th March-2nd April), where he was hosted by Dr Petra Masopust Sachova (Assistant Professor, Palacky University Olomouc). Located just a two-hour train journey East of Prague, Palacky University Olomouc is among Maynooth’s many Erasmus partners and has one of the oldest and largest law faculties in the Czech Republic, comprised of several specialist departments.
Dr Marder delivered a public lecture at Dr Sachova’s Department of Criminal Law, with local students and practitioners from the national Ombudsman and the Probation and Mediation Service among the audience. He then delivered a series of interactive seminars with Dr Sachova’s legal master’s students who, since 2017, have had the opportunity to study a module on restorative justice. Both the talk and the seminars explored recent developments in the international legal framework for restorative justice and encouraged participants to consider how they might stimulate its implementation in the Czech Republic.
The next day, Dr Marder and Dr Sachova travelled to Prague, where they delivered another seminar, hosted by the Czech Probation and Mediation Service. This seminar represented the launch of the Czech arm of a new project, Restorative Justice: Strategies for Change. This involves ten countries (including Ireland and the Czech Republic) and is being co-ordinated by Dr Marder, with colleagues from Restorative Justice Nederland and the European Forum for Restorative Justice. The seminar was attended by senior representatives from the Probation and Mediation Service, the Czech Ministry of Justice and several other practitioners, academics and NGO staff who support the further development of restorative justice in the Czech Republic.
Then, on Wednesday 3rd April, Dr Marder travelled to Belfast to co-facilitate a workshop at a 3-day Restorative Practices Knowledge Exchange Event, organised by Dr Brian Payne (Ulster University) and Dr Jon Hobson (University of Gloucestershire). This conference was attended by around 25 practitioners and policymakers from across the UK and Ireland. Dr. Marder co-facilitated a workshop with Louise Cooper (Deputy Director, Reducing Reoffending Directorate, Northern Irish Department of Justice), who is leading on the development of a new restorative justice strategy for adult offenders in Northern Ireland. The workshop focused on one aspect of this strategy – the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Restorative Justice in Northern Ireland – and involved discussions of how best to overcome practical barriers to the development of restorative justice.
Dr Marder is currently writing a new master’s module on restorative justice, to launch in September 2019, for Maynooth University’s Comparative Criminology programme. He is also writing a new undergraduate module on victimology, which will also touch on restorative justice and launch in September 2019.