Irvin Waller

Irvin Waller (born July 24, 1944 in Hovingham, United Kingdom) is a Canadian professor, public speaker and consultant. He is currently a Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. He was the founding executive director of the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime affiliated with the United Nations. He developed the Safer Cities program with UN Habitat and has participated with the World Health Organisation in the implementation of their Health and Violence report. He was a key adviser to the group of experts that prepared the UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime accepted in 2002. He has worked on national commissions in Canada, South Africa and the United States. His achievements for crime prevention across the world have been recognised by Belgium, Canada, England, France and The Netherlands. Dr. Waller has been President and Secretary General of the World Society of Victimology. He is on the Board of the International Bureau of Children´s Rights which spearheaded the adoption of UN Guidelines on Justice for Child Victims and Witnesses in 2005. He has received awards from the US National Organisation for Victim Assistance (NOVA) for his work leading to the UN adoption of the Declaration on Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power as well as his contributions to victim protection through research.

He has published extensively on victim issues, crime prevention and incarceration in English, French and Spanish with translations in many other languages. His book – Less Law, More Order – The Truth about Reducing Crime shows that the WHO, US National Research Council and the UN conclude that standard ways of using police, courts and incarceration are less effective and more expensive than tackling risk factors that cause crime are effective. His Handbook for the Soros Foundation on mobilising governments to protect crime victims was released in 2004. He served as a senior official in the Ministry of the Solicitor General of Canada in the 1970s to provide evidence to support the abolition of the death penalty, dangerous offender legislation and prevent violence against women.