Sean Redmond

Seán Redmond is a government official in the Department of Justice assigned as Director of the Research Evidence into Policy Programmes and Practice (REPPP) project in the University of Limerick, Ireland. REPPP is a specialist research team dedicated to improving the evidence base for policy making in the field of youth crime. The REPPP research around drugs related violence is known as the Greentown programme. The original study took place in a real but anonymised location in Ireland, (Greentown). Using social network analysis and a tool developed by Professor Redmond, ‘Twinsight’; researchers were able to closely examine how criminal networks operate, how they recruit and retain young people in criminal activity. The research has been replicated four times. The research resulted in a new intervention programme which is being tested in two anonymised locations in Ireland, majoring on the retail end of illicit drugs sales. The programme was developed to reduce network influence in local neighbourhoods and to help children embedded in networks to exit. The programme was developed from a range of evidence sources; extant knowledge on effective programmes, empirical research, theory and a wide range of expert and scientific opinion. The programme has been on the ground for two years and is still developing.