Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 26 Feb 1997

Vol. 475 No. 5

Written Answers - Youth Reoffending Statistics.

Trevor Sargent

Ceist:

166 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education if she will forward information on the rate of reoffending of former inmates of Oberstown Boys' Centre, Obserstown Girls' Centre and Trinity House, County Dublin; and the number of re-offenders who serve a further custodial sentence in one of these institutions, as promised in a reply to Deputy Sargent on Tuesday 28 January 1997. [5467/97]

Minister for Education (Ms Bhreathnach)

The delay in responding to the Deputy arose from the fact that my Department was pursuing detailed inquiries with the individual centres in relation to the matters raised. The three young offender facilities to which the Deputy refers are reformatory schools. Such facilities generally cater for children in the 14-15 age group at the time of committal.

Under current legislation, children sentenced to detention in reformatory schools are committed for periods of between two and four years. Any such children who subsequently reoffend are generally over the age limit for placement in the young offender facilities operated under the Department of Education and would be dealt with under the adult prison system. Inquiries with the Department of Justice indicate that data is not readily available on the number of persons referred to the adult prison system who have previously been detained in young offender centres. Children under 14 years of age, who have been convicted and sentenced to a period of detention, are normally placed in one of the two industrial schools operated under the Department of Education. Some such children do reoffend following their release from the industrial schools and receive further custodial sentences. Of the 46 children currently on detention in the reformatory schools to which the Deputy refers, 11 have previously been placed on detention in industrial schools.

I should point out that many cases of reoffending by children do not result in the imposition of custodial sentences by the courts and would not, therefore, come to the attention of my Department or the young offender centres.

A study conducted in 1989-1990 into the incidence of reoffending by former inmates of Trinity House School who had left the school in the previous two years, indicated a reoffending rate of 75 per cent.