IPRT appears before Joint Committee on Justice to discuss Anti-Social Behaviour

22nd February 2022

[IPRT Acting Executive Director Molly Joyce. Photo: Oireachtas TV.]

IPRT Acting Executive Director Molly Joyce and Senior Policy & Research Officer Sarahjane McCreery appeared before the Joint Committee on Justice on Tuesday 22 February to give evidence on the topic of ’Anti-Social Behaviour’ (ASB).

IPRT was joined by representatives from Foróige, the Probation Service, Dublin Town, Core Youth Services and North Dublin Inner City Local Community Safety Partnership. 

Our recommendations to the Committee are as follows:

• Further and ongoing research on the backgrounds of individuals caught up in the criminal justice system should be conducted and routinely published (in an appropriate format) so as to support targeted, best practice, interventions and support for people at risk. This might include developing a systematic approach to equality monitoring across all criminal justice agencies.
• A positive statutory obligation on all relevant agencies to cooperate in respect of a child identified as being at-risk should be introduced via legislation.
• A positive statutory obligation on all relevant agencies to cooperate around prisoner release should be introduced via legislation.
• There should be further investment in existing interventions that have been shown to work, such as the Bail Supervision Scheme and restorative justice projects, so as to expand the remit of these projects nationally and ensure they are available to a larger cohort.
• The Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill 2014 should be progressed without further delay,17 alongside an investment in community-based sanctions.
• The commitments within the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 to extend diversion measures to 18-24-year-olds and progress a Youth Joint Agency Response to Crime (YJARC) pilot should be progressed without further delay.

For more, IPRT's Opening Statement can be read here.

A transcript of the discussion can be read on the Oireachtas website here.

A video of the Committee meeting is available online here, with IPRT appearing from 00:36:10. Questions from Committee members commence at 00:44:30.

The Opening Statements of the other witnesses before the Committee are available on the Oireachtas website here.

Media coverage:

• Irish Examiner: Government has key role in preventing anti-social behaviour, Oireachtas committee told
• The Times (Ireland): Tougher prison sentences ‘don’t reduce reoffending’
• The Irish Times: Custodial sentences for anti-social behaviour should be ‘a last resort’