Centre for Crime, Justice and Victim Studies

Welcome to the CCJVS

Since its establishment in 1997, the Centre for Crime, Justice & Victim Studies (CCJVS) has firmly established itself as a national centre of excellence in criminal justice research. 

Originally founded as the Centre for Criminal Justice (CCJ), the centre was rebranded as the Centre for Crime, Justice and Victim Studies (CCJVS) in 2015 in recognition of its significant research strengths in the area of victims’ rights.

The centre is based within the School of Law, with membership comprising of faculty, researchers and PhD candidates who are all researching cutting-edge topics that have practical significance for the challenges posed in the modern criminal justice system. The CCJVS is directed by Dr Susan Leahy, Associate Professor in the School of law.

CCJVS expertise is centred on eight key research areas: Criminal Law, Evidence and Procedure; Victim Studies; Youth Justice; Policing Studies; Hate Studies; European Criminal Justice; Regulatory Crime, and; Offending and Desistance.

Centre members are actively engaged in high-quality, funded national and international research projects across these key areas. 

The CCJVS is also heavily involved in the development of Irish criminal justice law and policy, with members regularly making contributions to law reform debates as well as providing training and development opportunities for criminal justice stakeholders. For example, the training programme for An Garda Síochána is accredited by the School of Law, with CCJVS members sitting on the quality assurance board for Garda training programmes.

The CCJVS runs regular seminars and conferences that are attended by and involve contributions from key national and international criminal justice stakeholders and academics.

For further details on the work of the centre and/or queries about getting involved in our work, please contact Dr Susan Leahy at susan.leahy@ul.ie or ccjvs@ul.ie