Prevention First: Designing Safer Communities from Systems to Streets 

A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Crime Prevention 

The 29th Annual Conference on the theme of ‘Prevention First: Designing Safer Communities from Systems to Streets’ will take place on Thursday, June 11th in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin 8.  

See programme information and booking details below. 

This event is now sold out. Please join the waitlist on Eventbrite to be informed of when more tickets become available.

About the Conference

This event will explore how communities can prevent crime before it occurs by integrating social supports, environmental design, and multi-agency collaboration. 

Taking a holistic view of crime prevention, the conference recognises that the justice system often responds to the consequences of deeper systemic gaps rather than addressing their root causes. It will bring together leading experts to examine how structural supports — such as housing, healthcare, and education — can be aligned with practical, environment-focused strategies to create safer communities. 

To address these gaps, the conference will explore how design, strategy, and social policy converge to build resilient communities. This multi-dimensional approach moves beyond reactive policing to build resilient environments and social foundations that naturally deter offending behaviour. 

Key themes include: 

• Social & Structural Foundations 
  Exploring how investment in education, housing, and healthcare can reduce the long-term risk of offending and support resilient, thriving communities.  

• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) 
  Demonstrating how well-designed spaces can naturally deter crime through principles such as natural surveillance, territorial reinforcement, and natural access control –-promoting safety and positive social interaction without creating defensive or exclusionary environments.  

• Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) 
  Focusing on practical, targeted measures that reduce opportunities for crime. SCP focuses on the "micro-level" of criminal choices, using techniques like target hardening (e.g., better locks and security) to increase effort and risk while limiting potential rewards.  

By bridging high-level social policy with applied environmental strategies, this conference seeks to establish a sustainable model for safety — where prevention is embedded into the fabric of society, not treated as an afterthought. 

Confirmed speakers include...

Plenary Speakers

• Dr Katharina Swirak, Senior Lecturer, School of Society, Politics and Ethics, UCC: From individualised intervention to collective solidarity: re-considering the role of social policy for crime prevention.
• Gráinne Berrill, Director, National Office for Community Safety: Building community safety where it starts: Prioritising prevention, collaboration and the community voice.
• Iain Brennan, Professor of Criminology, University of Hull: The relationship between exclusion from school and serious violent offending.
• Grainne Egan, Principal Officer, Social Inclusion Unit, Department of Education
• Karyn McCluskey, CEO, Community Justice Scotland and founder of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit: How prevention-first approaches across health, social services, education, and justice reduce offending.
• Graham Farrell, Professor of Crime Science, University of Leeds: Situational crime prevention: designing out crime and nudging behaviours, including the impact of security improvements on crime trends.

Thematic Session 1: The Role of Education in Providing Better Opportunities which Support Crime Reduction

• Aine O'Keeffe, National Manager, Tusla Education and Support Service (TESS).
• Derek Byrnes, Moyross Youth Academy: Céim ar Chéim & Moyross Youth Academy 
• Bronagh Fagan, DCU Educational Disadvantage Centre

Thematic Session 2: Community and Social Service Provision

• Clare O'Connor, Researcher: From Punishment to Prevention, Poverty, Inequality and Pathways into the Criminal Justice System.
• Dr Megan Coghlan, Assistant Professor in Criminology at the School of Law and Criminology at Maynooth University: Exploring the wider macro context that influences reoffending: Targeting disadvantage and social exclusion.
• David Hoey, Coordinator, Street Pastors Cork: Being Visible and Accessible in the Night Time Economy.

Thematic Session 3: Designing Out Crime

• Eddie Mullins, CEO of Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI): Community Safety, Thinking Outside the Box 
• Graham Kavanagh, Crime Prevention Officer, An Garda Síochána: Gap between awareness and application of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in Ireland.
• Dr Natalie Walshe, Director of Entrepeneurial Development, University of Galway: Before the Blueprint: Designing Empathy into Systems from the Inside Out 

The full conference programme will be published shortly.

Event details 

The ACJRD annual conference is aimed at those working in government agencies and in the community, including policymakers, practitioners, academics, civil society and a wide range of disciplines that focus on all those affected by the Criminal Justice System. 

Date: Thursday, 11th June 2026 

Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm (registration opens at 8.45am)

Location: Ashling Hotel, Dublin 8  

Registration is now open to non-members

Priority access for ACJRD members has now ended. ACJRD members benefit from priority booking and discounted rates for ACJRD conferences. To enjoy these benefits, you can find more information about membership and how to apply here.

Tickets cost €50 for members and €80 for non-members.

Booking is via Eventbrite at the following link:  https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/acjrd-annual-conference-2026-tickets-1986410540399?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl 

The ACJRD annual conference is aimed at those working in government agencies and in the community, including policymakers, practitioners, academics, civil society and a wide range of disciplines that focus on all those affected by the Criminal Justice System.

The Chatham House Rule 

To encourage openness and the sharing of information, ACJRD invokes the Chatham House Rule at all events. The Chatham House Rule reads as follows:"When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed". See: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule.   

• CPD Points: Attendance at the event may qualify for CPD points. Qualification is determined by the points’ issuer. ACJRD is happy to provide certificates of attendance on request. For GDPR purposes, attendance lists will be deleted after 12 months and it will no longer be possible to provide certificates of attendance after that. Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. after the event if you will require a certificate of attendance. 

• Photographs are taken ACJRD's event, please let a member of ACJRD's team know if you do not want your photo taken. 

• ISL Interpretation is available by request, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Mon 1st June 2026 if you require this service. We would appreciate an early booking to facilitate the interpreter arrangements