Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 February 2004
282 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of cases referred to the Garda national juvenile office in 2003 and to give an analysis of the outcome in respect of the numbers where no further action was recommended, where cases were referred to the JLO services, and where cases were recommended for prosecution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5351/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have had inquiries made with the Garda authorities with regard to the number of cases referred to the Garda national juvenile office. The information sought by the Deputy is outlined in the following tables. The Deputy should note that the figures for 2003 are provisional and subject to a validation process.
|
Juvenile diversion programme referrals 2001-03: |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
|
|
Total number of referrals |
19,080 |
20,647 |
19,915 |
|
Recommended for prosecution |
4,275 |
4,942 |
4,093 |
|
Recommended for caution |
8,058 |
8,441 |
8,808 |
|
No further action |
1,076 |
1,154 |
1,017 |
|
Pending |
5,671 |
6,110 |
5,997 |
|
Juvenile diversion programme. Number of individuals referred: |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
|
|
Total number of referrals |
16,487 |
17,493 |
17,050 |
|
Recommended for prosecution |
3,028 |
3,307 |
2,857 |
|
Recommended for caution |
7,429 |
7,655 |
7,957 |
|
No further action |
1,010 |
1,092 |
979 |
|
Pending |
5,020 |
5,439 |
5,257 |
283 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make a statement on the adequacy of existing services to deal with juvenile crime. [5352/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraFor the purpose of this question, a juvenile is taken to be a person under 18 years of age. Statutory responsibility for the provision of spaces for young offenders under the age of 16 years lies with the Minister for Education and Science. I have statutory responsibility for the provision of spaces for persons of 16 years of age and over.
There is a wide range of non-custodial options, including probation, deferment of sentence under supervision and community service orders for young persons who have pleaded guilty to an offence in court. At any one time there are approximately 600 young persons serving various types of sentence in the community. In addition, there are 25 residential places, funded by the probation and welfare service, for offenders aged under 18 years. There is also a range of non-custodial placements-projects available for this age group.
The Children Act 2001 introduces a wide range of innovative measures which will provide a statutory framework for the future development of the juvenile justice system in accordance with modern thinking and best international practice. The Act also amends the Child Care Act 1991 by providing for the detention in special care units of non-offending children with challenging behaviour, establishes the Special Residential Services Board to ensure the efficient and co-ordinated delivery of services to young children in detention, and re-enacts and updates provisions in the Children Act 1908 protecting children from abuse by persons who have the custody, charge or care of them. The Act is complex and comprehensive legislation and for this reason provisions under the Act are being implemented on a phased basis, as was envisaged at the time of enactment.
Responsibility for implementing the Children Act 2001 lies with the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Education and Science in respect of juvenile offending, and the Department of Health and Children in respect of children who are non-offending but out of control. The National Children's Office is co-ordinating the cross-departmental aspects of the implementation of the Act.
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 generally envisages committals to custody of young offenders being availed of only in circumstances where other alternative diversions and community based options have been resorted to and have failed.
The successful implementation of the community based options in the Act will require a significant input from the probation and welfare service. In this context, the probation and welfare service, as part of its planning for implementation of the Children Act 2001, engaged trainers from the Department of Child, Youth and Family, New Zealand, for the intensive training of all professional staff as facilitators for family conferences to be convened and managed in accordance with the requirements of the Act, as well as providing day seminars for all probation and welfare officers. The service will provide ongoing training through its staff development unit as required.
From September 2003 to date, 14 additional permanent probation and welfare officers and three temporary probation and welfare officers have taken up duty and a response to other offers of appointment is awaited. It is the intention that, subject to an adequate number of staff being recruited, community sanctions provided for in the Act will commence to be implemented in 2004.
Under the Children Act, I, as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, will be obliged to provide separate detention facilities for 16 and 17 year old boys and girls who are committed to custody by the courts either on remand or under sentence. The provision of appropriate custodial facilities is a priority for the Irish Prison Service. The primary objective of these detention centres will be to provide a secure but supportive environment in which young offenders can develop the personal and social skills necessary to avoid future offending.
In line with this, a new facility for male juveniles in this age group will open at St. Patrick's Institution in the near future. This unit, which was designed by a multi-disciplinary team, will include a custom designed facility for the delivery of education, recreation, medical and therapeutic services. The longer-term provision of a dedicated facility on a greenfield site for 110 juveniles — 90 male and 20 female — is also being considered. Having considered a report by the Commissioners of Public Works and the recommendations made and having conferred with the director general of the Irish Prison Service, I decided some time ago that the proposed development of such a facility at Newlands Villa, Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, will not now proceed. The identification of another site for the proposed juvenile detention facility is now being pursued in consultation with the director general of the Irish Prison Service and the Office of Public Works.
The most significant criminal justice interventions directed at diverting young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour are the Garda juvenile diversion programme and youth diversion projects. In stating this, I understand by diversion is meant 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, many interventions designed to prevent re-offending are available, particularly those provided by the probation and welfare service.
I understand from the Garda authorities that the policy of the Garda Síochána in relation to dealing with juveniles who offend is to consider the offender for inclusion in the Garda juvenile diversion programme. This 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 proven 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. I am informed by the Garda authorities that in the year 2003, the Garda national juvenile office received 19,915 referrals under the programme relating to 17,050 individual offenders. The Deputy should note that these figures are provisional and are subject to a validation process. The programme is delivered throughout the country by 85 gardaí and eight sergeant juvenile liaison officers who are employed full-time working with juvenile offenders.
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. To facilitate these innovative developments, most of the Garda juvenile liaison officers have now received training in mediation skills, with advanced training being provided to selected officers. Since the commencement of the relevant part of the Children Act 2002 and up to the end of September 2003, almost 100 restorative justice events have been held. Early assessments indicate a very high level of satisfaction from all those involved in theprocess.
Ongoing evaluation of restorative justice practice is being carried out by the Garda research unit. It is intended that as Garda juvenile liaison officers become more skilled in administering restorative justice, they will be able to focus on the more complex and high risk offenders, with a view to further reducing the incidence of recidivism.
To ensure the effective operation of the Garda juvenile diversion programme in accordance with section 44 of the Act, a committee to monitor the effectiveness of the programme, review all aspects of its operation and monitor the ongoing training needs of facilitators involved in restorative conferencing was established in June 2003.
In addition to the Garda juvenile diversion programme, a total of 64 Garda youth diversion projects are in place. These projects 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.
On the basis of commissioned evaluations of the Garda youth diversion projects, my Department, in conjunction with the Garda Síochána and other key stakeholders, commissioned the centre for social and educational research at the Dublin Institute of Technology to prepare 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. The guidelines were officially launched at the Garda youth diversion projects annual conference in May 2003.
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 on according to local needs by the Garda authorities in conjunction with my Department. Funding of €5.318 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 turning in the process of maturing into young adults. Moreover, research indicates that of all those formally diverted from prosecution, some 88% do not come to the attention ofthe Garda Síochána again by their 18thbirthday.
