The rights and entitlements of victims of crime in Ireland are set out in the Victims Charter, published by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 1999, following extensive consultations with all relevant agencies including the courts, the Garda Síochána, the Prison Service, the probation and welfare service, the State prosecution service and the Victim Support organisation.
A guiding principle of the Victims Charter is a commitment to giving victims of crime a central place in the criminal justice system. The charter makes specific provision for particularly vulnerable victims such as victims of sexual offences, domestic violence, elderly victims, victims with disabilities, and children. It also contains specific provisions in relation to keeping victims informed of the outcome of their complaints, the progress of any criminal proceedings, and the outcome of these proceedings.
The Irish Victim Support organisation has over 500 professionally trained volunteers countrywide helping over 7,700 victims of crime annually with a network of centres based in local communities in all parts of the country. In addition, the victim support organisation operates a court witness programme in the Circuit and Criminal Courts.
It receives the bulk of its funding directly from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and in the last five years the organisation has received over €5 million in direct funding from my Department. Among the aims of the organisation are to: assist victims of crime both in practical and emotional terms; offer advice and provide information in relation to matters relevant to victims such as compensation, legal aid, insurance cover, relevant statutory entitlements, etc.; and create a greater awareness throughout society about the plight of victims and to highlight the viewpoint of victims.
The Garda Síochána has undertaken to provide help and support to victims of crime as one of the strategic goals of the Garda corporate strategy 2000-04 and, in the Garda policing plan 2004, has undertaken to strongly increase the number of referrals of victims of crime to the victim support organisation. I am informed that the Garda authorities have appointed victim liaison gardaí to liaise with the victims of crime and the victim support organisation.
I understand from the Garda authorities that the policy of the Garda Síochána as regards dealing with juveniles who offend is to consider the offender for inclusion in the Garda juvenile diversion programme. The Garda juvenile diversion programme provides that, in certain circumstances, a juvenile under 18 years of age who freely accepts responsibility for a criminal incident may be cautioned as an alternative to prosecution. The Children Act 2001 placed this programme on a statutory footing, and the relevant sections of the Act were commenced in May 2002.
The programme has proven to be highly successful in diverting young people away from crime by offering guidance and support to juveniles and their families. In the more serious cases, juveniles are placed under the supervision of Garda juvenile liaison officers, who are specially trained members of the Garda Síochána responsible for administering the programme at the local level. I am informed by the Garda authorities that persistent offenders would be unlikely to remain on the juvenile diversion programme. I am further informed in 2003 the Garda national juvenile office received 19,915 referrals under the programme relating to 17,050 individual offenders. The Deputy should note that these figures are provisional and are subject to a validation process. The programme is delivered throughout the country by 85 gardaí and eight sergeant juvenile liaison officers who are employed full time working with juvenile offenders.
Part 4 of the Children Act 2001 introduced the concepts of restorative justice, specifically restorative cautioning and restorative conferencing, to the Juvenile diversion programme. The restorative justice programme supports the victim by providing an opportunity in certain circumstances to attend a caution of the juvenile offender. The victim may take the opportunity to explain the harm done to him/her and receive an apology. Essentially, the provisions of the Children Act 2001 provide for the inclusion, where appropriate and possible, of the victim, the juvenile's family and the wider stakeholding community in the process of diversion. To facilitate these innovative developments, most of the Garda juvenile liaison officers have now received training in mediation skills, with advanced training being provided to selected officers. Since the commencement of the relevant part of the Children Act in 2002 and up to the end of September 2003, almost 100 restorative justice events have been held. Early assessments indicate a very high level of satisfaction from all those involved in the process.
Ongoing evaluation of restorative justice practice is being carried out by the Garda research unit. It is intended that as Garda juvenile liaison officers become more skilled in administering restorative justice, they will be able to focus on the more complex and high-risk offenders, with a view to further reducing the incidence of recidivism.
To ensure the effective operation of the Garda juvenile diversion programme in accordance with section 44 of the Act, a committee to monitor the effectiveness of the programme, review all aspects of its operation and monitor the ongoing training needs of facilitators involved in restorative conferencing was established in June 2003.
In addition to the Garda juvenile diversion programme, there are in existence a total of 64 Garda youth diversion projects. These projects are a community-based, multi-agency crime prevention initiative which seeks to divert young persons from becoming involved — or further involved — in anti-social and/or criminal behaviour by providing suitable activities to facilitate personal development, promote civic responsibility and improve long-term employability prospects. By doing so, the projects also contribute to improving the quality of life within communities and enhancing Garda/community relations.
On the basis of commissioned evaluations of the Garda youth diversion projects, my Department, in conjunction with the Garda Síochána and other key stakeholders, commissioned the centre for social and educational research at the Dublin Institute of Technology to prepare comprehensive guidelines for the establishment, operation, management and administration of projects. It is anticipated that these guidelines will act as a benchmark against which applications for new projects will be assessed and against which existing projects will be evaluated on an ongoing basis. The guidelines were officially launched at the Garda youth diversion projects annual conference in May 2003. As the Deputy may be aware, recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of these projects, from 12 in 1997 to 64 at present, a process made possible, in part, by funding under the National Development Plan 2000-2006. The locations of the new projects were decided upon according to local needs by the Garda authorities, in conjunction with my Department. Funding of €5.318 million has been allocated to these and related projects in the current year.
In summary, the Garda authorities and I remain strongly committed to the principle and practice of diversion in the criminal justice system, a commitment warranted by consistent findings of national and international criminological research. Although the Garda juvenile diversion programme and the Garda youth diversion projects are not appropriate for all juveniles or in all situations, they nevertheless provide an important intervention in the lives of those juveniles who have taken a wrong turning in the process of maturing into young adults. Moreover, research indicates that of all those formally diverted from prosecution, some 88% do not come to the attention of the Garda Síochána again by their 18th birthday.
I am informed by the Garda authorities that they monitor crime trends on an ongoing basis at national and local level and that Garda patrolling arrangements are adjusted to respond to the type of incidents referred to by the Deputy.
