Why we should be bothered about the influence that locally based criminal networks have on children?

Dr Sean Redmond gave a talk in UL on March 1 as part of a seminar series on Critical Perspectives on Youth, Community and Urban Regeneration. The title of his paper was  Why we should be bothered about the influence that locally based criminal networks have on children.

The talk discussed the Greentown study into the influence of criminal networks in children’s offending behaviour in Ireland 2010-2014. There is significant evidence now available to isolate the risk factors associated with youth related offending, permitting policy and programme intervention to offset such risks. However there is a smaller group of youth responsible for a significantly disproportionate amount of crime and potentially involved in adult crime networks.  Far less is known about the contexts of these youth in the mainstream risk science related literature and from national datasets in Ireland. His paper outlined the background to the Greentown study, its objectives, the limitations of the extant knowledge on children’s involvement in adult criminal networks and key research findings. The paper also highlighted the key policy implications arising from the Greentown study.