I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 587 of 9 June 2015
in which the Deputy sought a breakdown of cases before each District Court for road traffic offences, where the outcome included donations to the court poor box.
The court poor box is a non-statutory system used mostly by the District Courts to impose a financial charge on a defendant to be used for a charitable purpose, usually instead of imposing a criminal conviction. Payments made to the court poor box are accounted for by the court office concerned and the accounting procedures are subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Generally, charities are the recipients of poor box contributions but the decision is solely at the discretion of the Judge who is independent in the matter of sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. In February 2014, the Government approved the drafting of the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill, which will replace the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 with modern provisions dealing with community sanctions and the role of the Probation Service in the criminal justice system. It is intended that the legislation will provide for a statutory Reparation Fund to replace the Court Poor Box, as recommended by the Law Reform Commission in its 2005 report The Court Poor Box: Probation of Offenders.
As the Deputy will be aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service and I have no role in the matter. Section 4(3) of the 1998 Act provides that the Courts Service is independent in the performance of its functions, which includes the provision of information on the courts system. However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have made enquiries and the information is currently being complied and verified. I shall arrange for the information requested to be forwarded to him shortly.
