A strategic goal of IPRT is to promote reform of Irish sentencing practice and help ensure greater transparency around the principles and purposes of sentencing.
We aim to promote the principle that detention should only be used as a last resort while remaining committed to supporting the principles of proportionality and judicial independence in sentencing.
IPRT believes that imprisonment itself causes serious social harms, and therefore should only be used sparingly at the point of sentencing when non-custodial alternatives are not available or are deemed inappropriate.
IPRT does not support any type of sentencing that either removes or severely limits the discretion of the judge to decide what sentence should apply, given all the circumstances of the case.
One example of this approach is mandatory sentencing, where there is no discretion left to the judge. It means that for certain offences, the judge must impose a particular sentence (a particular term of imprisonment). There is no other option regarding sentencing available to the court.
Another example is called ‘presumptive minimum’ sentencing; this type of sentence means that a judge must apply a specific minimum penalty, unless exceptional circumstances exist that would make it unfair or unjust to do so. However, such circumstances can often only be considered for the first offence, as for second or other offences, the minimum sentence must then be imposed regardless. This type of sentencing is often used with serious offences, such as certain drug offences, firearms offences, and murder (murder carries a mandatory life sentence). IPRT opposes this type of sentencing on the basis that such sentences are ineffective in preventing or responding to crime.
In the Criminal Justice Policy: Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024, the Department of Justice outlined actions that will significantly impact sentencing in Ireland, such as proposals to incorporate the principle of ‘prison as a last resort’ in statute and to develop and expand the range of community sanctions as alternatives to imprisonment. IPRT will continue to advocate for the Government to meet these commitments.
11th July 2017
IPRT has a number of concerns about proposals included in the Criminal Justice (Commission of Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2017 [PMB], which may have unintended negative consequences.
7th March 2017
The Sentencing Council (England & Wales) has published two new sentencing guidelines, to come into effect from 1st June 2017. One deals with how courts should make a reduction in sentence for offenders who plead guilty, and the other deals with the approach they should take when sentencing children and young people.
22nd February 2017
A Position Paper setting out IPRT's position on mandatory and presumptive sentencing.
21st June 2016
The Parole Board is to be given statutory footing in a new Private Member's Bill brought before the Dáil this month.
9th March 2016
Since 2001, more than 30 US states have raised the threshold on what can be charged as a serious theft. In a recent brief the PEW Charitable Trusts examined what impact, if any, this change had on the rates of theft in different states.
4th March 2016
During the early 1990’s, violent crime levels were at record highs in the United States, but have since fallen to levels not seen since the 1960’s. In this brief, the PEW Charitable Trusts survey nine leading US scholars for their view on the role that a massively increased prison population had on this fall in crime.
20th October 2015
The United States maintains its distinction as the nation with the highest rate of incarceration in the world. A report entitled, “The State of Sentencing 2014 Developments in Policy and Practice” was published by The Sentencing Project who are a national non-profit organization in the U S. The report documents the range of law and policy changes which were authorised by legislators in at least 30 states during 2014 which may have the effect of addressing the nation’s scale of incarceration.
20th July 2015
An article in the Economist explains the moral issues of the mass-incarceration of Americans.
28th December 2013
Figures up to the end of November show that there were nearly 15,000 committals in that period. Whereas, there were over 17,000 committals in the same period in 2012.
18th December 2013
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released figures on recidivism rates among prisoners released from custody of the Irish Prison Service in 2008.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.