John Deasy
Question:1 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his plans to introduce legislation to provide for more lengthy jail terms for child sex crimes. [3047/03]
Ceisteanna – Questions. Priority Questions. - Sexual Offences.
Even though Irish legislation already provides severe penalties for a wide range of sexual offences against children, the penalties are increased from time to time, as occasion requires. Most recently, for example, in the Sex Offenders Act 2001 the maximum prison sentence for sexual assault on a child was raised from five years to 14 years. While the penalties generally for sexual offences, including sexual offences against children, are kept under review, I have no plans to increase them.
We were all surprised at recent cases, particularly those involving child pornography. I was surprised to discover that the maximum sentence at the District Court for certain offences is only 12 months. I was also surprised that the DPP cannot appeal sentences imposed by the District Court and that fines in these cases are less than €2,000. Judges are left to use the poor box mechanism, which has no statutory basis and is unsatisfactory. Does the Minister think it is satisfactory for judges to do this?
Crimes can be tried summarily in the District Court or as indictable offences in the Circuit Court, but they never get to the latter. Has the Minister communicated with the Attorney General about this matter?
I acknowledge what the Deputy has said. Under the Constitution, all offences must be tried on indictment and before a jury unless they fall into the category of minor offences. The jurisprudence regarding what is or is not a minor offence is long established. Two things must happen in the case of an offence that can be tried either summarily or on indictment. In nearly every case, the DPP has to decide to try it as a minor offence and the District Court judge must decline jurisdiction unless he or she is satisfied that it is also a minor offence.
The prosecution of offences is not a matter for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Once an offence is prosecutable, the preliminary decision as to whether it falls into the category of a minor offence is entirely the decision of the DPP, to be made as an independent officer exercising constitutional functions. Once legislation says an offence can be tried in either way, the DPP is given the choice in how he will ask for it to be tried. Thereafter, he must also persuade the judge of the District Court in question that it is a case suitable for summary trial. That is a matter for the judge and I have no influence in it.
If this House creates an offence that can be tried either way, it cannot thereafter ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform why offences are being tried summarily. This is not a matter for the Minister to become involved in.
Maximum sentences available for sexual offences are, I believe, the most severe in the European Union and they are certainly more severe than in Britain. Rape, rape under section 4 of the 1990 Act, aggravated sexual assault, unlawful carnal knowledge of females under 15 years of age, buggery with a person under 15 years of age – regardless of whether or not it was an assault – and child trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation all carry sentences of life imprisonment. Unlawful carnal knowledge, namely, having sexual intercourse with a girl between 15 and 17 years of age in circumstances that would not amount to ordinary rape, carries a sentence of five years for the first conviction and ten for any subsequent conviction and the same applies to buggery with people in the same age group in areas where consent is not an issue. Taking a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation, allowing a child to be used for the purposes of child pornography and producing or distributing child pornography all carry maximum sentences of 14 years. Possession of child pornography carries a maximum sentence of five years. Sexual assault on a child carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, while a sexual assault on an adult carries a sentence of ten years.
The maximum sentences may be severe, but they are not being imposed.