Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2021
1239. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Justice if additional measures can be taken to deal with the so-called revolving door system whereby convicted criminals who have not yet completed their custodial sentences or persons out on bail reoffend; her views on the actions that can be taken to stop convicted criminals from reoffending generally; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14701/21]
View answerPublic safety is an absolute priority for me as Minister for Justice and working to reduce re-offending and minimise the risk of further harm to victims and society through the implementation of effective evidence-based penal policy, is a key part of that task. As the Deputy may be aware, a number of initiatives have already been introduced over the past decade to reduce reoffending including Community Return and Community Support Schemes and the Joint Agency Response to Crime (JARC).
Community Return and Community Support Schemes were introduced in 2011 and aim to increase support for prisoners prior to their release from prison, upon their release, and then for a period after their release in order to break the cycle of offending. It is an incentivised scheme for the supervised release of qualifying prisoners who complete unpaid community work as a condition of their early release. It gives this cohort, whom the Irish Prison Service and Probation Service have carefully assessed as being suitable and motivated, the opportunity of early and renewable temporary release with resettlement support. It is available for those who have been assessed as posing no threat to the community; are serving more than one year and fewer than eight years, and who have served at least 50% of their sentence.
Supervised community sanctions help in reducing reoffending, make communities safer and, with proper supports, positively reintegrate offenders back into their communities. Community Return is a further pathway which assists with a move away from criminality and provides prisoners with the opportunity to make a positive contribution to society. The provisional figures Community Return cases in 2020 was in the region of 290 with an overall compliance rate of approximately 95%.
The JARC is a multi-agency response to the supervision and rehabilitation of offenders which commenced in 2014, primarily involving the Irish Prison Service, the Probation Service, AN Garda Síochána and my Department. The programme aims to target prolific offenders who are responsible for large amounts of crime. In order to reduce crime and enhance public safety, the selected prolific offenders are managed through the integration of policy and practice between the J-ARC agencies.
In terms of looking to the future, Goal three of the recently published Justice Plan 2021 contains eight specific actions to reduce re-offending rates for those convicted of crime. These actions include a commitment to publish a Policy Review on Penal Policy which will set out the actions to be taken to reduce the rate of reoffending and the establishment of a Penal Policy Consultative Council to advise on penal policy.
I have also committed to commence a policy review to consider custodial sentences of less than 12 months in consultation with the IPS and Probation Service and a policy review of the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill 2014 in consultation with the Probation Service and IPS in conjunction with a review of the operation of the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014.
As you may be aware, I have also committed to publish proposals to extend the range of the spent convictions legislation to widen the cohort who can benefit from greater employment opportunities as well as to implement the “Working to Change” Social Enterprise and Employment Strategy 2021-2023 to improve the employment options for people with convictions. The focus will be on removing barriers and increasing opportunities for people with convictions to participate in both social enterprise and mainstream employment options, as well as entrepreneurship opportunities.
The Deputy will also be interested to know that the latest figures for Probation Re-offending Statistics, published on 17 November 2020, is a detailed study of recidivism among offenders placed under Probation Service supervision, including those on Community Service Orders. Overall almost 69% of offenders did not re-offend within a one year period of being placed under the supervision of the Probation Service. It further showed that 71.7% of offenders on Community Service Orders did not re-offend within that period and 84.1% for those under Post Release Supervision Order. This can be compared with the previous 2008 cohort figure of 61.6% of offenders on Community Service Orders not re-offending within a 3 year period.
The above figures indicate a recidivism rate of 31.1% for those persons given a Community Service Order. The level of reoffending within one year has fallen from a high of 35.5% in the 2008 cohort.
I am confident that the joint initiatives being undertaken within the criminal justice sector, including the Community Return and Community Support Schemes, will result in lower recidivism levels being reported in the prison cohort in future and I am very pleased with the continued improvement in offending reduction among those on probation supervision.
