Adjournment Matters. - UN Congress on Crime Prevention.
Dr. Henry: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and hope she will take note of this important debate.
The Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders took place in Vienna in April 2000. These important conferences take place only once every five years. The key issues discussed included the fight against corruption, including the problems of money laundering on an international scale and corruption in police and judicial systems and ways to combat these activities. Transnational organised crime, particularly that involving the trafficking of women, was discussed. In the treatment of offenders part of the programme, the importance of restorative justice was discussed.
It is important to discuss the treatment of offenders. In this country we are inclined to think the only treatment is the imprisonment of offenders. I was dismayed at the announcement that yet more prison places will be built with no cognisance taken of the numerous reports which suggest using other methods to deal with offenders. I recognise that the refurbishment of prisons is necessary and that facilities are required for juveniles, in particular. However, I am dismayed at the Minister's plan to build more prison places at great cost in the future. Everyone knows that once places are available they will be filled.
Restorative justice is both an old and new concept. A comprehensive definition of restorative justice is that it is the process whereby all the par ties with a stake in a particular offence come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future. It has recently gained interest among lawmakers and justice practitioners here and throughout the world. Attempts are being made to bring restorative justice programmes into our prisons. Victim-offender mediation programmes are now well established in Canada, the United States of America, England, Germany, France, Austria, Norway, Finland and in other countries.
Crime is primarily an offence against human relationships and a violation of a law. Restorative justice recognises the importance of the violation of persons and relationships and tries to make things as right as possible afterwards. We can never make things totally right but we can try to make things as right as possible afterwards. The situation of the crime should be used to repair the damage done to the victim and to society by the offence as soon as possible after the crime.
I regret the long delays in the courts system in dealing with crime. However, if the offender is co-operative – not all offenders will be co-operative – the situation should be used to help the offender to learn a new way of behaving in the community. Following imprisonment there is an 80% recidivist rate, therefore, it is difficult to consider imprisonment as a good method of dealing with offenders. Naturally there are offenders who pose significant safety risks and these are most difficult to deal with. However, even they should be exposed to the impact their crime has had on the victim.
I could say much more on the subject but, in view of the time constraints, I will refer Senators to the United Nations booklet on restorative justice, which is well worthwhile reading.
I am concerned about the composition of the membership of the Irish delegation which attended the congress in Vienna. This limited our participation in the conference. While I have the greatest respect for the diplomats who are based in Vienna and who attended the conference – it is my good fortune to be a personal friend of Ambassador Thelma Doran, and I am also very impressed by the officials from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform – why were there no judges, prison officials, criminologists or others who work at the coalface of crime and its consequences there? These people were members of other delegations and were probably in the best position to contribute to the debate. Also, if we had sent judges, lawyers, prison officers and others interested in this area, they would have had a good opportunity to meet colleagues from other countries and to learn from their experiences.
Canada's representatives introduced a major new paragraph to the debate document which reads as follows:
Canada proposes to add the following new paragraphs after paragraph 25:
We commit ourselves to formulating restorative justice legislation, policies, procedures and programmes that are respectful of the rights, needs and interests of victims, youthful and adult, offenders, communities and all other parties and that promote a culture favourable to mediation and other restorative justice processes among law enforcement, judicial and social authorities, as well as local communities, and we also commit ourselves to providing appropriate training for those implementing such policies.
We invite the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to formulate United Nations basic principles and standards to guide States in the fair and effective use of medication and other restorative justice processes.
I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's response to these proposals on restorative justice and the reasons for the limited make-up of the personnel in the Irish delegation.
Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Miss M. Wallace): On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I am pleased to have the opportunity today to discuss the main deliberations and outcomes of the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, which was convened on 10 to 17 April 2000, in Vienna.
The function of this and previous congresses is to provide a forum in which member states may exchange views and experiences on law and policy development, identify emerging trends and issues in crime prevention and criminal justice and provide advice and comments to the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. I assure Senator Henry that senior officials of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and our diplomats based in Vienna attended the congress to ensure Ireland's full involvement in these useful exchanges.
The tenth congress's main theme was Crime and Justice: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century, which involved deliberations on four substantive agenda items, namely, promoting the rule of law and strengthening the criminal justice system, international co-operation in combating transnational organised crime, keeping pace with new developments to ensure effective crime prevention and accountability and fairness in the justice process for offenders and victims.
Each of these themes was the subject of vigorous debate in workshops and reports of these debates were presented to and adopted at plenary. By far the most significant outcome at the congress, however, was the adoption with the full support of Ireland of the Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice. This declaration sets out the main priorities for member states in tackling crime, nationally and internationally and in par ticular affirms a high priority to the completion of negotiations on the draft United Nations convention against transnational organised crime and related protocols.
The Vienna Declaration also calls on member states to introduce, where appropriate, national, regional and international action plans in support of victims of crime such as mechanisms for mediation and restorative justice and sets the year 2002 as a target date for states to review their relevant practices. In this regard, the declaration encourages the development of restorative justice policies, procedures and programmes that are respectful of the rights, needs and interests of victims, offenders, communities and all other parties.
Restorative justice has already found favour in a number of jurisdictions in recent years and has largely been applied to young offenders and less serious offences. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform also considers that the concept has real possibilities and, as a consequence, when he became Minister he ordered a thorough reappraisal of the Children Bill, 1996, with the emphasis on introducing into our law the most up to date and sophisticated measures for dealing with juvenile justice that took account of best international practice. The result can be seen in that Bill which contains some of the most comprehensive and innovative provisions on restorative justice anywhere in the world. These provisions are realised through restorative justice conferencing measures involving juvenile liaison officers or probation and welfare officers as well as restorative justice cautioning measures also involving the Garda Síochána. They represent a new way of dealing with young offenders that is not intended as an easy option but rather aims to help the offender to face up to the consequences of his or her offending. For example, mediation between offender and victim may be a feature of restorative conferencing with the offender often apologising and making reparation to the victim. Much more can be involved, however, depending on the circumstances such as restriction on movement, school attendance, counselling and participation in community activities.
A pilot scheme in the Dublin region operated by the community relations section of the Garda Síochána has shown encouraging results and has vindicated the Minister's initial optimism. Following the training of juvenile liaison officers in mediation skills, approximately 30 restorative justice conferences and cautionings have occurred and the Minister is informed that victims and offenders found the process very rewarding. The Minister's commitment to restorative justice goes much further than the Children Bill. He recently approved a three-year pilot project involving a partnership between the Tallaght Mediation Service and the Probation and Welfare Service with funding of up to £280,000. A six-phase mediation model which will allow the victim to tell of his or her experiences and to hear how the offender regards the offence has been developed. A reparation agreement may also form part of the overall process.
The Minister has also funded a similar co-operative venture between the Probation and Welfare Service and the Nenagh Community Reparation Project. This venture aims to increase the involvement of the community in positive activity designed to reduce crime and minimise repeat offending by confronting the offender with the impact of the crime on others, in particular, the victim. There are clearly many advantages in exploiting restorative justice initiatives but it must also be recognised that restorative justice has its limitations – in a proportion of crimes no offender is ever identified. Moreover, full respect should always be given to the procedural rights of victims. Concern has, on occasion, been expressed that victims, some of whom would regard meeting the offender face to face as complete anathema, may feel pressurised into opting for restorative justice.
While the Minister recognises and has acted upon the positive elements of restorative justice, the concept cannot be regarded as a cure-all for crime or the criminal justice system. Rather, the Minister sees it as an important alternative to traditional criminal trial and punishment for, in particular, youth crime as identified by Senator Henry. It should be implemented in tandem rather than as a replacement for the existing criminal justice process.
I thank Senator Henry for giving us this opportunity to discuss this very important issue.