Frances Fitzgerald
Question:302 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the obligation, if any, there is on judges to have extra regard for considerations of rehabilitation when sentencing young offenders. [14386/98]
Written Answers. - Young Offenders.
Under our legal system the law provides generally for maximum penalties for criminal offences. The law enables the judge to exercise his discretion, within the maximum penalty, by reference to the conclusions he has reached after trying the case, hearing all the evidence, assessing the culpability and the circumstances of the accused, etc. Under the Constitution, judges are, subject only to the Constitution and the law, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions and it is not open to the Executive to intervene in such matters.
With regard to an obligation to consider rehabilitation in the sentencing of young offenders, section 13 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1960, is relevant in that it requires the judge to be satisfied that no other method of dealing with the case is suitable prior to imposing a sentence of detention in St. Patrick's Institution. This section provides that:
where a person who is less than seventeen but not less than sixteen years of age is convicted of an offence for which he would, if he were not less than seventeen years of age, be liable to be sentenced to a term of penal servitude or imprisonment, and the Court considers that none of the other methods in which the case may be legally dealt with is suitable he may be sentenced to be detained in St. Patrick's Institution.
Frances Fitzgerald
Question:303 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons aged under 16, 17 and 18 years respectively who were arraigned for trial on indictment in each of the years from 1995 to 1997; and the charges involved in this regard. [14387/98]
Court statistics are not compiled in such a way as to provide the information sought by the Deputy.
Frances Fitzgerald
Question:304 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the proportion of indictable offences committed by those under the ages of ten, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 years respectively. [14388/98]
I refer the Deputy to the annual reports of the Garda Commissioner, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library. The most recent report published is in respect of 1996. In that report, detailed crime statistics are presented, including types of indictable offences divided into groups and presented in detail to show the number of offences recorded, the results of proceedings taken and the age and gender of persons who have been convicted.
The specific information sought by the Deputy, which does not refer to any particular year, is not available in any event, in that the ages of offenders are known only in respect of offences which have been detected. I have been informed by the Garda authorities, however, that the following table shows the proportions of detected indictable offences recorded in 1996 in respect of which at least one offender is recorded as being in the age groups mentioned.
|
under ten years |
0.4 per cent |
|
under 12 years |
1 per cent |
|
under 14 years |
4 per cent |
|
under 15 years |
7 per cent |
|
under 16 years |
11 per cent |
|
under 17 years |
17 per cent |
|
under 18 years |
24 per cent |