In August 2022, Dr. Ian Marder published two articles for RTÉ’s academic column, Brainstorm.
The first article explores sentencing and sentencing guidelines in Ireland. The Judicial Council Act 2019 introduced a new Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee (SGIC) to draft guidelines on sentencing. However, the SGIC’s process and priorities are yet to be well defined. Ian argues that the SGIC should focus on a ‘principles and purposes’ guideline, with a core principle of sentencing: to be fair, proportionate and contribute towards the safety, health and connectedness of our communities. This would permit an evidence-based approach to sentencing that deprioritises failed goals of retribution and deterrence, and prioritises those that will make society safer.
You can read the article here. Ian has co-authored several additional pieces on sentencing guidelines, including on the data needed to design and monitor sentencing guidelines in Ireland (here), the development of smart guidelines in Ireland (here), the effects of the England and Wales guidelines on consistency and individualisation (here), the need to consider the decision sciences when designing guidelines (here), and the impact of the England and Wales guidelines on sentence severity (here).
The second article considers what a forthcoming Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use should consider, based on recent research and experience from other countries. As with sentencing, there is a need to ensure that our response to drugs prioritises evidence-based and humane policy approaches, and deprioritises those that are ineffective and inhumane. In the article, Ian discusses decriminalisation, harm reduction services, legalisation, medical uses and research, and reparation for the harms caused by the war on drugs.
You can read the article here. Ian teaching classes on the policing of drug trafficking and cultivation, and on the criminalisation and decriminalisation of drugs, in LW269 Policing, a compulsory module for second year students in BCL Law and Criminology and who study criminology through Arts.
Also in 2022, Ian published an article on the mapping of restorative justice and restorative practices in Ireland (see this article using 2019 data here; see a summary analysis of 2020 data here), a piece for Citizens Information on restorative justice (here) and an article on RTÉ with several colleagues from Maynooth on the need for higher education to be accessible to those with convictions (here).