A Safer Place to Live
Labour’s Overall Approach
1.) We will deal with the crime problem in a resolute and determined fashion. We want to put the criminal out of business. There is only one place for gangsters and drug barons – that is behind bars.
2.) However, our approach to crime is not exclusively aimed at confrontation, but is targeted also, as far as possible, at its elimination. We have to tackle with equal vigour the social conditions which give rise to criminal activity.
3.) It is clear that the drugs epidemic is a world-wide crisis. It is a problem which affects everyone. The drugs problem has its roots in poverty, unemployment and social disadvantage. A 1994 Health Research Board Report found that over 80% of those being treated for heroin addiction in the Dublin area were unemployed; and 92% were in the 15 to 39 age bracket.
4.) The interaction between organised crime and the drugs trade is a major threat not only to individuals, but also to the pattern of life of whole communities.
5.) In July 1996, the Labour Party published a policy document "The Drugs Menace and Organised Crime". It argued that a single inter-departmental agency was required without delay to break the stranglehold of the drug barons. The Criminal Assets Bureau was established by Ruairi Quinn in the summer of 1996. So far, it has had a number of key successes in its efforts to pursue and to bring to justice the major players in the criminal drugs trade, and their associates and professional advisers.
6.) Action to combat crime, especially violent and drug related crime requires:
7.) The fight against crime includes the straightforward targets of
8.) This in turn involves
9.) There will always be habitual criminals. Prison, however, is not the only solution to crime. Prisons are for deterrence, punishment and the protection of society. All weapons in the fight against crime – the Gardaí, the Courts and the Prisons – require an improved management and control system. Adequate financial and human resources need to be provided for the processing of criminal charges, and criminal trials need to be accelerated.
10.) At present, the cost to society of containing crime, in terms of Exchequer spending on policing, prisons and other services is more than £600 m. per annum – and the loss and trauma of victims is almost unmeasurable.
11.) Labour believes in the establishment of major changes in a crucial set of relationships, namely those between the Gardaí, the prison service, the Department of Justice, the courts, and the probation and welfare service, subject to overall accountability to the Oireachtas.
12.) There is an equal need for a wide range of educational, social and economic measures aimed at ending social deprivation and alienation.
13.) There is great urgency in tackling now the conditions that cause the crime of the future. Most crime is committed by young men from deprived backgrounds who have left school early.
14.) Labour believes that a serious concerted effort is essential to provide targeted programmes for young people at risk.
15.) As well, the victims of crime are not treated well by the criminal justice system. This must be rectified.
Crime Prevention
The Gardaí
16.) The Gardaí are in the forefront of the fight against crime. They are the primary guardians of the community and, as such, should be and be seen to be, a part of the community. They should be independent in their structures and management and yet be responsive to community needs. Genuine community policing is not simply having a Garda on the beat. It requires a far greater degree of involvement with the community and integration with other services.
17.) The type of crime and indeed criminal which the Gardaí now have to deal with is far different from former times – more violent crime, extensive drug trafficking and an increase in sophisticated white collar crime. This requires a modern management structure, better morale and opportunities for career progression, new skills in the use of technology, and training in the best ways of co-operating effectively with local communities.
18.) Careers in the Garda Síochána should be normally be full-time and fully professional – based on mutual respect between citizens and members of the force with the common object of securing a peaceful and secure environment for people to get on with their daily lives.
19.) There is a potentially important role also for part-time policing at community level.
20.) Labour believes that there should be a wider debate on the changing role of the Gardaí and that this debate should be conducted in a formal context.
We propose the establishment of a Commission on Policing to help forge a modern role for the police force.
The Commission should be formulated along the lines of the Education Convention and involve the Gardaí themselves, the civilian staff, community and voluntary groups, resident groups, appropriate experts and other interested parties.
Issues to be addressed include:
Actions directed at the Causes of Crime
21.) Other measures in the Manifesto aimed at tackling disadvantage and at countering alienation will make a significant contribution to a reduction of crime in the future.
22.) In the short-term, significant progress in a number of areas is vital. For example, Youth Diversion strategies are required. They must be targeted at specific high density urban areas, where there is a combination of a large young population, high unemployment and a lack of basic amenities – the areas from which young offenders are most likely to come.
23.) The aim should be to keep young people within the education system for as long as possible – by making that system more responsive to their needs and by providing alternatives to the traditional education services. This will require further increases in the money allocated to pre-primary and primary education.
24.) The objective of the Garda Diversion Programme (formerly the non statutory Juvenile Liaison Officer Scheme) is to divert first time, non serious child offenders, where feasible, from being immediately drawn into the criminal justice system. The Programme has been judged a success by the Garda authorities, with up to 80% of participants each year failing to come again to the attention of the Gardaí.
25.) This programme should be:
26.) Notwithstanding that it was so strongly supported by Fianna Fáil when it held the Department of Justice, the Youth Diversion Programme must, of course. be recognised as a complete antithesis to the policy now being so vehemently trumpeted as their instant solution to the major scourge of juvenile offending.
27.) We advocate:
Drugs
28.) The fight against drugs is both essential for the overall welfare of society and a key component in the task of combating and preventing crime.
29.) There are three key elements:
30.) Progress has been made over the last year in these three areas. The successful establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau, the operation of local drugs task forces, and the increased number of places for treating addicts, have all contributed. The National Drugs Strategy Team was established last year to co-ordinate the State’s response to the drugs problem.
31.) School programmes, the provision for parental education, the work of Community Drugs Teams, and training in community leadership in enhancing the role of estate management in a community based response to drugs – all these are essential in reducing drugs demand. Our proposals for the treatment and rehabilitation of addicts are dealt with in Part 4 of this document.
Crime and the Legal System
32.) We support the reform of the bail laws, and the revamping of the courts system that underpins the approach to the new Courts Service. We believe that the following proposals would facilitate further the rapid processing of crimes through the system.
Unified Prosecution Service
33.) The Director of Public Prosecutions and the Chief State Solicitor’s Office both have a role in prosecutions at present. We propose their combination into a unified Prosecution Service. This would be a saving in Garda time taken up in prosecutions in the District Court. The Prosecution Service should have direct IT contact with the Gardaí
34.) The initial files on prosecutions compiled by the Gardaí are often inadequate. This should be addressed by better training for Gardaí in this area and by having specialists in each Garda Division with a knowledge of prosecution requirements.
35.) The Forensic services available to the service should be improved and, again, should be in direct Information Technology contact.
Prosecution of Drugs-related Offences
36.) The prosecution of drugs-related offences, and action related to evictions, should be fast-tracked by giving them priority in the Prosecution Service. There should be deadlines for
Trials with certain types of serious offence should always take place within 60 days of arrest. The necessary support services including the Garda Forensic Unit require upgrading as a matter of urgency.
37.) The need for preliminary investigations of all charges in the District Court should be re-examined. Some offences could be designated as going straight to trial.
Information
38.) The court system should share with the Gardaí and the prisons an extensive information technology facility whereby detailed information would be available on warrants issued, failure to turn up for trial and related matters. For example, we do not have a register of bench warrants so there is no easy way of finding out when a warrant was issued against an individual, by whom and for what.
Criminal Legal Aid
39.) The rules on eligibility for criminal legal aid should be more rigidly enforced. A public defender system should be tried on a pilot basis. This would involve the use of salaried lawyers, at public expense, to represent persons granted legal aid.
Criminal Law Reform
40.) It is necessary, and urgent, to simplify and consolidate existing law on practice and procedure in the courts and on substantive criminal law.
41.) Arrangements could be made to contract out some of this work to deal with backlogs.
42.) Alternative ways must be found to deal with minor infringements. For example, increased use of "on the spot fines" in relatively minor areas (such as being "found on" licensed premises after hours) would free up court time for dealing with more serious offences.
Director of Public Prosections
43.) There is need for a wider relationship and opportunity for structured dialogue between the DPP and the Oireachtas. This will involve amendments to the over 20 year old Act which established the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
44.) Independence must be maintained, and the integrity of prosecution judgements on individual cases protected. However, there is need for elected representatives to be able to query not just management and administration in general terms, but also for opportunities to examine DPPs policies
Prisons
45.) Labour accepts that more prison places are needed. The Whittaker Report suggested in the mid-eighties that if current trends continued, approximately 4,000 places would be required by the mid-nineties. At the completion of the Government'’ current building programme, the number of places available will be in the region of 3,250.
46.) However, we are wary of arguments setting our the provision of more prison places as a panacea for our crime problem.
47.) There should be no tolerance of drugs in prisons given the extent of drug abuse and other medical problems. Labour believes that it is appropriate that the relevant health board in each case be given the responsibility for developing health care strategies within the prisons. The VEC for instance, is already responsible for the provision of education.
48.) Consideration should be given to the establishment of a district court within Mountjoy itself. Attendance at outside courts can represent another opportunity for the transmitting of drugs to prisoners.
49.) The choice between prison and payment of a fine ought not rest with the convicted person: the appropriate penalty should be decided by the courts.
50.) It is wrong that a person may opt to avoid a large fine by serving a prison sentence, or that a person may be able to choose to pay the fine rather than serve a sentence. We already have an attachment of earnings capacity within our family law system to ensure compliance with court orders. This facility should be extended to all fines levied on offenders.
51.) Nor is there any good reason why offenders, assessed as suitable for transfers to "open" prisons, where they would enjoy a higher rate of remission of sentence, can nonetheless refuse to take up such a transfer in the knowledge that, by remaining in Mountjoy, they are likely to be released much sooner, for reasons of overcrowding. Offender should serve out their sentences in the institution to which the authorities wish to send them.
52.) Labour supports the establishment by statute of an independent Prisons Agency, with the function of managing prisons coherently and in a planned and effective manner. It would have an independent Board appointed by the Government, including both members with specialist expertise and qualifications and also representatives of the community.
53.) The Board would be autonomous in its supervision of the operations of the Agency, which would be entrusted to a chief executive who would also be a Board member. The Board would appoint the chief executive who would also be a Board member. The Board would appoint the chief executive and he or she would be accounting officer of the Agency and responsible to the Board for day-to-day management. The Board would report annually to both Houses of the Oireachtas. The chief executive would be expected to appear and give evidence on a regular basis to relevant Dáil committee.
54.) A new management structure would devolve greater autonomy and responsibility to Governors for the management of, and future planning in relation to their own institutions.
55.) The Minister for Justice would retain overall policy making functions, and the central budgetary role. There would e a new legal framework.
56.) Certain powers would be reserved to the Minister – for example:
57.) Labour also supports the establishment of an independent Inspector of Prisons, with sufficient powers to inspect and report both annually and in relation to specific incidents, on conditions in all prisons and other places of detention, including those under the aegis of the Department of Education. Specific issues or complaints could be referred to the Inspector for investigation either by the Minister for Justice or by any member of prison staff or prisoner. The reports of the Inspector would be laid before the Oireachtas.
58.) The existing advisory committee which deals with the release of long-term prisoners should be placed on a statutory basis as a Parole Board. its remit should be extended to cover a wider range of sentences than it at present considers.
59.) The criteria according to which it operates should be set out in the legislation to ensures accountability and transparency in its operations. The temporary release of short-term prisoners would be a function of the Prison Agency, which would operate in close co-operation with the Probation and Welfare Service.
60.) New prison legislation to set up the prison agency will also repeal and consolidate all existing statutes much of which dates from the 19th century. The role and status of visiting committees will be upgraded in the legislation.
Sentencing and Probation
61.) Sentencing policy and the desirable duration of sentences need to be addressed. Unsupervised early releases, which are often damaging to both the community and the offender, should be ended as quickly as practical.
62.) At any one time, there are several hundred people on early release, who are unsupervised, and who were not released for humanitarian or rehabilitation reasons.
63.) The Probation Service must at present provide two quite separate services – one for the family courts hearing cases of family breakdown and another for the criminal courts, in relation to the assessment of offenders. The Service is under increasing strain, and the two sides of the Service, which meet different needs, should be separated completely. On the criminal side, the Probation Service should be the primary target for additional resources in the area of sentencing.
64.) The Law Reform Commission made extensive recommendations on sentencing issues. We will address them in a new Sentencing Bill. We also support the view that:
65.) It follows from this that we do not support the view that mandatory and minimum sentences for indictable offices should be introduced. However, Labour believes that the mandatory sentence for murder should be retained.
Violence Against Women
66.) Violence against women is a serious and widespread problem, with 7% of women currently suffering abuse from their partner. We will implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Violence Against Women.
67.) We will ensures that
Victims of Crime
68.) Our criminal justice system rightly provides for legally imposed sanctions against offenders. But we have not always given due regard to the rights of the victims – in particular to their right to information on the progress of the investigation and prosecution.
69.) A case management system should be introduced for the purpose of keeping victims informed. Responsibility should be given to each individual member of the Garda involved in the investigation of crime to liaise with and give information to victims as to the stage in the criminal justice process which the case has reached.
70.) The work of the Irish Association for Victim Support is fully recognised. Additional funding for its activities will be allocated. A court accompaniment service to provide assurance and information for victims facing unfamiliar and intimidating court surroundings will be introduced on a pilot basis.
71.) There can be severe difficulty and worries for victims who are witnesses in serious cases when they find themselves in the unfamiliar and potentially hostile framework of courts and court proceedings. We will ensure that the next Government carefully examines the issue of ensuring victims rights to legal advice or representation in certain situations.
Conclusion
72.) Crime divides societies. It damages the quality of life of those who feel threatened by it and can often make them retreat from the wider communities in which they live.
73.) We can never underestimate the dangers crime poses to our social fabric and we are determined to tackle it. To be effective, we require a two pronged approach. We need to deal with existing crime in a tough and determined fashion. But, just as importantly, we need to tackle now the conditions that cause the crime of the future.
74.) In short, we have to be single-minded about crime – and just as single-minded about its causes.
