Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2022
569. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Justice the average sentence that a person received when convicted of a knife crime in each of the years 2019, 2020 and 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6131/22]
View answerAs the Deputy will appreciate, there is no singular offence of 'knife crime' and it is therefore not possible to provide average sentences as requested. It should be noted that, where a more serious offence is committed and a knife is used in the commission of that offence (for example, assault or murder), that the charge brought forward will usually be for the more serious offence, and not solely possession of a weapon.
For the Deputy's information, however, I have contacted the Courts Service for information on the average sentence for persons convicted of possession of a knife or other article contrary to Section 9(1) and 9(4) of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990 (as amended).
I have been advised by the Courts Service that Courts can only provide data in relation to where offence codes provided on the system were used by prosecutors. Prosecutors may have used uncoded free text offences and any such offences would not be included in the data provided.
It should also be noted that more serious instances of offences in relation to section 9(1) or 9(4) may have been sent forward for trial to the Circuit Court. At this time, the system in use by the Courts Service in the Circuit Courts, the ICMS, cannot produce reports for specific offences. Therefore figures from the Circuit Courts are excluded from the information provided and the figures below only represent those tried in the District Court.
|
Year |
Average Sentence Length imposed |
|
2019 |
4.7 months |
|
2020 |
4.5 months |
|
2021 |
4.5 months |
The average sentence length includes custodial and suspended sentences.
For the Deputy's information, the Courts Service has a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the Oireachtas at: oireachtasenquiries@courts.ie.
