Robert Troy
Question:41. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the funding that has been earmarked for the Irish Sentencing and Information Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6038/13]
View answerWednesday, 6 February 2013
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Written answers
The Irish Sentencing Information System, or ISIS, results from the work of the judiciary to oversee the development of an electronic system to gather information about the range of sentences and other penalties that have been imposed for particular types of offences across court jurisdictions.
The project was developed and is overseen by a Committee of the Court Service Board set up in 2004 and chaired by the Chief Justice. The Courts Service funded the work of the Committee in initially engaging a junior barrister to carry out research into the area of sentencing and sentencing information systems; funding a visit from Director of the Centre for Sentencing Research at Glasgow Law School who made a presentation in 2005 on the sentencing information system in use in the Scottish High Court and other jurisdictions and funding a visit by Court Service officials to Edinburgh to observe the use of the sentencing information system by the Scottish Courts Service. The Courts Service also funded the provision of legal advice to the Committee on data protection issues which arose. The project was progressed by way of a series of pilot projects between 2005 and 2009. During this period the Courts Service retained the services of a further 9 barristers to collect and collate information on sentencing outcomes. The Courts Service through its ICT Unit also supported the development of a computer system for the storage of the sentencing data collected and a pilot website which can be accessed by members of the judiciary and the public. The resulting website became operational as a pilot in August 2010 with information published on over 1000 cases. The Service has informed me that total expenditure to the end of 2010 was €397,060.
I consider the website has the potential in time to be a valuable tool not only to members of the judiciary but also for lawyers, researchers and those of us concerned with the needs of victims and their families and I welcome the recent announcement by the steering committee that two interns are shortly to be appointed under the JobBridge National Internship Scheme in order to recommence the detailed work of gathering and providing information via the website. The Courts Service has confirmed that it will continue to support the development and implementation of the ISIS project.