2011 Annual Report on Garda Diversion Programme published

21st January 2013

The Department of Justice, Equality and Defence today published the 2011 Annual Report on the Garda Diversion Programme.

Put on a statutory footing in the Children Act 2001, the Diversion Programme aims to provide an alternative to formal court proceedings in dealing with offending behaviour in children. In order to be accepted onto the programme, a child must:

- Be between 10 and 18 years of age
- Accept responsibility for their offending behaviour
- Consent to being cautioned and in some cases supervised.

Those children who are deemed to be suitable for the programme will receive either a formal or informal caution, depending on the seriousness of the offence and their previous offending history. The key difference between the cautions is that the formal caution involves a period of supervision by a Juvenile Liaison Officer.

The Programme also has an element of restorative justice, in that the victim may be included in the process in certain cases. Encouragingly, this report demonstrates an increase in the use of this process.

Figures to note include:

• There was a 28.8% decrease in the number of children coming to the attention of Gardaí.
• 76% of those children referred were admitted to the Diversion Programme.
• The majority of those referred were dealt with by way of an informal caution. (Approx. 54%) A formal caution was administered to 22%.
• 75% of those referred were male, with 25% being female.
• There was a 14% increase on 2010 in the use of restorative justice, with 903 referrals including a restorative element.

The full report may be accessed here.