asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on diversion and other programmes aimed at diverting younger people away from crime and anti-social activities; the funding available; his plans for the further development of such programmes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2893/03]
Other Questions. - Juvenile Offenders.
8.
The most significant criminal justice interventions directed at diverting young people from crime and anti-social behaviour are the Garda juvenile diversion programme and the Garda youth diversion projects. The Deputy will appreciate that there are two distinct elements to the issue. In stating this, I understand by "diversion" the process of preventing young people from entering the formal criminal justice system in the first place. If and when criminal prosecution and conviction occur, there are many interventions in place designed to prevent reoffending, particularly those provided by the probation and welfare service, but these measures are considered to be of a different nature to the subject matter of the question.
The Garda juvenile diversion programme provides that, in certain circumstances, a juvenile under 18 years of age who freely accepts responsibility for a criminal incident may be cautioned as an alternative to prosecution. The Children Act 2001 placed this programme on a statutory footing and the relevant sections of the Act were commenced in May 2002.
The programme has proved to be highly successful in diverting young people away from crime by offering guidance and support to juveniles and their families. In the more serious cases, juveniles are placed under the supervision of Garda juvenile liaison officers, who are specially trained members of the Garda Síochána responsible for administering the programme at the local level.
Part 4 of the Children Act 2001 introduced the concepts of restorative justice, specifically restorative cautioning and restorative conferencing to the juvenile diversion programme. Essentially, these provisions provide for the inclusion, where appropriate and possible, of the victim, the juvenile's family and the wider stakeholding community in the process of diversion.
In addition to the Garda juvenile diversion programme, there are 64 Garda youth diversion projects in place. These projects are broader in concept. They form part of a community based, multiagency crime prevention initiative which seeks to divert young persons from becoming involved or further involved in anti-social and/or criminal behaviour by providing suitable activities to facilitate personal development, promote civic responsibility and improve long-term employability prospects. The Deputy will appreciate that such a programme operates in the Youghal area.
Additional information.On the basis of commissioned evaluations of the Garda youth diversion projects, my Department, in conjunction with the Garda Síochána and other key stakeholders, is in the process of finalising comprehensive guidelines for the establishment, operation, management and administration of projects. It is anticipated that these guidelines will act as a benchmark against which applications for new projects will be assessed and against which existing projects will be evaluated on an ongoing basis. I expect the guidelines will be launched in the coming months.
As the Deputy may be aware, recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of these projects, from 12 in 1997 to 64 at present, a process made possible, in part, by funding under the National Development Plan, 2000-2006. The locations of the new projects were decided upon according to local needs, prioritised by the Garda authorities, in conjunction with my Department. Funding of €5.577 million has been allocated to these and related projects in the current year.
In summary, the Garda authorities and I remain strongly committed to the principle and practice of diversion in the criminal justice system, a commitment warranted by consistent findings of national and international criminological research. Although the Garda juvenile diversion programme and the Garda youth diversion projects are not appropriate for all juveniles or in all circumstances, they nevertheless provide an important intervention in the lives of those juveniles who have taken a wrong turn in the process of maturing into young adults. Moreover, research indicates that of all those formally diverted from prosecution, some 87.5% do not come to the attention of the Garda Síochána again before their eighteenth birthday.
Does the Minister agree that we do not have a proper youth service? How much money has been made available to the two programmes in question? Perhaps the Minister did not reach that part of the original question. How many young people are currently engaged in these programmes?
The phrase "proper youth service" carries with it its own questions. I have to reserve judgment as to whether we need such a generalised service. On the issue of funding, €5.577 million was allocated to these and related projects in the current year. The peak of offending among juveniles is between 15 and 16 years of age. I agree with the implication of the Deputy's point that this is a good investment when compared to the classic way of dealing with these offences in the Children's Court.
I draw the Deputy's attention to Garda youth diversion projects under the RAPID initiative. In Dublin, for instance, in 2002, €1.488 million was spent on local youth diversion and drug task force projects and in the Limerick area, some €339,000 was spent in 2002. Unfortunately, efforts to extend the project to certain areas of Cork have been adversely affected by the current cap on public service recruitment. Nevertheless, I am examining ways to get around this difficulty.
How many young people have been engaged by the project in the past 12 months and how many are currently engaged by it?
Does the Minister accept the strong connection between alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour? On the question of early intervention, the earlier one intervenes with children from dysfunctional and crisis families, the better it is for all concerned. By the time many such children reach 12 or 13 years of age, the damage has already been done and they have been lost. Will the Minister give strong support to projects such as Breaking the Cycle in primary schools?
I strongly support the projects to which the Deputy refers. I also accept that there is a linkage between alcohol consumption and premature access to alcohol and a considerable amount of juvenile criminality.
To return to Deputy Stanton's supplementary question, every year between 8,000 and 9,000 juveniles are dealt with under the programmes – I do not have an exact figure for each year – whereas probably fewer than 1,000 juveniles per annum are convicted in the courts. Effectively, this means that of 10,000 offenders recorded annually, 80% to 90% are dealt with in the juvenile diversion and youth diversion schemes.