Ciarán Cuffe
Ceist:299 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps that have been taken to address the root causes of crime; and the steps taken to reduce the number of people in Irish prisons. [21379/03]
Written Answers. - Crime Prevention.
It is my responsibility as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and the responsibility of my Department, to maintain and enhance community security and equality through the development of a range of policies and high quality services which underpin, inter alia, an effective and balanced approach to crime. That balanced approach, in addition to providing the resources and legislative provisions required to enable the Garda Síochána to tackle crime in an effective and focused way, includes support for the development of crime prevention techniques and methods. Funding is provided, for example, to Community Alert and Neighbourhood Watch.
Addressing the root causes of crime is a multi-dimensional task which of its very nature falls within the areas of responsibility of a number of Departments. A number of risk factors have been identified as being contributory factors to the causes of crime. These include neighbourhood and community factors, socio-economic deprivation measured in part by poor housing and consistent poverty, family background and parenting and individual factors such as lower than average IQ or low self-esteem and academic and school factors.
My Department supports and develops evidence-based preventative measures and interventions aimed at young offenders and those most at risk of offending. One of these measures is the Garda youth diversion projects. They are a community-based, multi-agency 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. By doing so, the projects also contribute to improving the quality of life within communities and enhancing Garda-community relations.
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.
The National Crime Council was established in 1999 and its key roles are to focus on crime prevention, with particular emphasis on the underlying causes of crime and to focus on raising public awareness of crime, to examine the "fear of crime" and identify research priorities and undertake in-house research.
With regard to reducing the numbers serving prison sentences, under the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983, a court may make a community service order as an alternative to a sentence of imprisonment or detention in respect of any individual over the age of 16 years who has been convicted of a criminal offence and who consents to the order being made. The order requires an offender to perform unpaid work for between 40 and 240 hours, usually to be completed within 12 months. An offender may be rehabilitated through the discipline of having to work in the community and the making of meaningful reparation to that community for his or her crime. The probation and welfare service of my Department supervise those offenders undergoing community service orders.
The making of a community service order is a matter entirely for the Judiciary and one in which I have no function. However, the courts already have and do exercise wide discretion in using community service orders in dealing with people over 16 years of age who offend. It is used in practice for all age categories of offenders. Work projects are negotiated by the probation and welfare service with a wide range of community and voluntary agencies, usually resulting from an approach by the agency but, when necessary, arising from an approach to an agency by the service.
I would also like to advise the Deputy that the Children Act 2001 introduces a wide range of innovative measures that will provide a statutory framework for the future development of the juvenile justice system in accordance with modern thinking and best international practice. Three Government Departments have a role in implementing the Act, my Department, the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Education and Science. The National Children's Office has the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the Act and co-ordinate regular working group meetings.
It is an underlying concept of the Children Act to expand the options a court will have at its disposal when deciding on how to deal with a young offender. These options are an essential feature of the Act as they will allow effect to be given to the principle that detention for young offenders will be a last resort. Thus, the Act envisages committals to custody of young offenders being availed of only in situations where other alternative diversions and community-based options have been resorted to and have failed.
Prisons offer a wide range of services which aim to provide offenders with the means to avoid becoming reinvolved in crime following their return to the community. The services provided include work skills, training and education and are matched, where possible, to individual aptitudes and abilities, sometimes unrecognised or untapped prior to imprisonment. A comprehensive package of medical, psychological and other support services is available to assist those suffering from particular problems such as drug addiction.
The Irish Prison Service has established a new regimes directorate, composed of a multidisciplinary team of staff. The formation of this new directorate is facilitating the adoption of a multi-faceted approach to helping prisoners, both juvenile and adult, to develop their sense of responsibility and encouraging those attitudes and skills which will assist them to return to society with the best chance of leading law-abiding and self-supporting lives after release.
Question No. 300 answered with Question No. 297.