The School of Social Work & Social Policy and Trinity Research In Social Science (TRiSS) held a webinar on 27th November 2020.

Presentation by Assistant Adjunct Professor Vivian Geiran. 

Respondent: Associate Professor Nicola Carr. 

Chair: Professor Eoin O'Sullivan .

Abstract of Vivian's Presentation:

Having worked in the public service for more than forty years, former Probation Service Director, Vivian Geiran, will reflect on significant changes in the Irish criminal justice system, as well as internationally, over that time. From what brought him into probation work in the first place, through the highlights of his time as a probation officer and leader, Vivian will reflect on what sustained him over his career, as well as on modernisation efforts, the growth in the use of ICT and other developments impacting the frontline worker. Vivian will also consider the major paradigmatic shifts in focus and organisation of probation work, from offender reform and rehabilitation, through the RNR (Risk, Need and Responsibility) model, 'What Works? and 'managerialism,' to desistance, service user involvement, restorative practice, victimology, and mass correctional supervision, among other issues. He will also evaluate trends in criminal justice policy and practice, in Ireland and internationally, and look forward to potential future directions.

Vivian Geiran – retired as Director of the Irish Probation Service at the end of 2019. A registered social worker, and now Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work and Social Policy at TCD, Vivian is on the Judicial Council's Sentencing Guidelines & Information Committee, and a board member of the Irish Association of Social Workers and Ana Liffey Drug Project. He is a member of the Council of Europe's Council for Penological Cooperation (PC-CP) working group (which develops probation and prisons practice standards for the forty-seven member States), as well as of the International Penal & Penitentiary Foundation (IPPF). An international consultant on criminal justice, Vivian's research interests include criminal justice social work and community sanctions and measures, particularly probation, community service and parole. He co-authored Council of Europe guidelines on implementing community sanctions & measures and has published numerous papers on social work and probation.

Nicola Carr is an Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Nottingham. She is Editor of the Probation Journal and a Board member of the Irish Probation Journal. She is also a member of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation and Youth Justice's Expert Advisory Group. She was a convenor of the European Society of Criminology's Working Group on Community Sanctions and Measures and a Scientific Expert to the Council of Europe's Council of Penological Co-Operation (PC-CP), where she helped to develop Guidelines Regarding Recruitment, Selection, Education, Training and Professional Development of Prison and Probation Staff. She has researched and published on probation and community sanctions in comparative contexts.

Episode cover photo by Hédi Benyounes on Unsplash.