How Crucial is Relationship Building in Youth Justice Work?

Time spent building purposeful relationships accounts for a substantial proportion of the effort to divert young people from crime in Ireland. Those who work in youth justice often report that building professional relationships is key to the work they do with young people (DCYA, 2014). Despite the importance placed on these relationships by practitioners, few studies have revealed the extent to which they may help divert young people from crime.

REPPP Relationships Project will discuss ways in which youth justice practitioners use these relationships to help divert young people from crime.

Dr Eoin O’Meara Daly is a Research Fellow in Youth Justice with the Research Evidence into Policy Programmes and Practice Project (REPPP) in the School of Law, University of Limerick

Jackie Dwane is a Research Fellow on the Research Evidence into Policy, Programmes and Practice (REPPP) Project at the University of Limerick

The panel will also include Linda Kerin, Youth Justice Cordinator, with the KDYS Divisional Youth Diversion Project and Mary Lalor, Youth Justice Worker, Foróige.

This event may be recorded for future promotional use by the University of Limerick.

All venues are wheelchair accessible but should you have any specific accessibility queries, please contact us at: Research@ul.ie

Dr Eoin O’Meara Daly

Dr Eoin O’Meara Daly is a Research Fellow in Youth Justice with the Research Evidence into Policy Programmes and Practice Project (REPPP) in the School of Law, University of Limerick. Eoin has been a lead researcher on the Greentown Replication study, the Greentown Programme Design initiative and author of the Bluetown report http://hdl.handle.net/10344/8643 that examined young people’s involvement in criminal networks. Eoin leads a Youth Crime Masters Module in the University, a cross-disciplinary offering that blends legal and social science perspectives.

Eoin has most recently worked on the REPPP Action Research Project, a collaboration with 16 Youth Diversion Projects as case study sites to examine ‘relational practice’ (or professional relationships between practitioners and young people) in youth justice settings. Eoin was previously a Youth Worker, Youth Justice Worker and Project Coordinator before managing a number of initiatives and services for young people in Limerick City over a 10-year period. Eoin was also a PHD scholarship awardee in the School of Law, University of Limerick, where his thesis examined community, collective efficacy and youth crime intervention.

Jackie Dwane

Jackie Dwane is a Research Fellow on the Research Evidence into Policy, Programmes and Practice (REPPP) Project at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Jackie recently worked on an Action Research Project (ARP) to co-design and implement a relationship model with youth justice practitioners. Jackie led the implementation evaluation for the project. She is now working with colleagues to scale out the model across the Youth Diversion Project network (n106) in collaboration with the Irish Department of Justice.

Before joining REPPP, Jackie worked for 12 years as a Youth Officer with the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board with responsibility for youth work practice development. This included implementation support for a National Quality Standards Framework. Jackie has a practitioner background, having worked as a Coordinator of a Youth Diversion Project and as a youth worker across Limerick city. She also spent time as a care worker, working with young people living in HSE residential care settings. Jackie is an experienced trainer and facilitator of Restorative Practice.

Jackie completed an MSocSc in Youth and Community Work at UCC in 2001. Currently, in the fourth year of her part-time PhD research, Jackie is interested in implementation science and examining effective co-creation processes.