Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Alamy Stock Photo

Opinion The next government needs to adopt a new approach to the criminal justice system

Saoirse Brady of the Irish Penal Reform Trust says the new government should listen to the experts when it comes to creating a functioning, humane prison system in Ireland.

NOW THAT THE makeup of the incoming government is fairly apparent, attention turns to the promises that the different coalition partners will negotiate over the coming weeks and include in their Programme for Government.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has six priorities to address systemic challenges in the justice system, reduce offending, enhance public safety, and ensure dignity and fairness for all.  

During the General Election campaign, some manifestos tried to outdo each other in the “tough on crime” stakes. However, proposals to create additional prison spaces, or even to build a whole new prison, will do little to alleviate today’s prison overcrowding crisis, with safe capacity levels breached daily resulting inunacceptable living conditions and increasing tensions.

By focusing on expanding prisons, our leaders are sending a message – perhaps unintentionally – that they are more concerned with dealing with the aftermath of crime rather than preventing it from happening in the first place. While many politicians believe that growing our prison estate and increasing the length of sentences will reduce offending, plenty of evidence demonstrates that prison does not act as a deterrent in this way.

Furthermore, mandatory minimum sentences are ineffective at reducing crime and disproportionately impact already marginalised groups. And with the prison population at an all-time high, people committed to custody cannot access the rehabilitative supports that they need to turn their lives around and take a different path. 

The root causes

Notably, these political perceptions are out of step with public opinion. In public attitudes polling commissioned by IPRT in October 2024, four out of five people stated that it is important that the next Programme for Government prioritises alternatives to prison in response to non-violent offending (81 per cent). Two-thirds of people did not think that prison expansion was the solution to address overcrowding, and when asked how they would spend a budget of €10 million to tackle crime, additional prison places ranked fifth out of seven options.

Top of the list was more Gardaí (41 per cent) with drug treatment (21 per cent) and youth work (10 per cent) in second and third place. The general public clearly understands that treating the root causes of offending – mental health, addiction, homelessness and poverty – will do more to make our communities safer than punitive measures like imprisonment that often provide a sense of security that is often false. 

To be clear, we are not making excuses for people who have committed offences, nor are we trying to minimise the experience of victims of crime. We are, however, highlighting that there are many reasons why someone interacts with the criminal justice system. Over-reliance on imprisonment, especially for less serious and non-violent offences, leads to overcrowding and undermines rehabilitation efforts. Community sanctions like probation supervision and restorative justice, when appropriate to use, are more effective at reducing reoffending and have a price tag of less than 10 per cent of the almost €90,000 it costs to keep one person in prison for a year. And for people in prison who have committed more serious or violent crimes, they would have greater access to rehabilitative supports and programmes to address their offending behaviour and ensure they do not pose a risk upon release.  

A change of focus

According to the Irish Prison Service’s recently released 2023 annual report, 78 per cent of committals to prison last year were for 12 months or less. IPRT believes that legislating for non-custodial sanctions as the default for less serious offences and placing the principle of prison as a last resort on a statutory footing would result in fewer people in prison. This approach would also free up resources to invest in measures that actually work to support people to turn away from criminal behaviour and would be beneficial for the entire community.  

A significant proportion of people in prison experience mental health and addiction issues, yet current services to meet their needs are wholly inadequate because there is so much pressure on the system. Implementing many of the sensible recommendations of the High Level Task Force on Mental Health and Addiction to intervene early or divert people with complex needs away from prison – or the criminal justice system entirely – and into appropriate services vastly increases the chances that they will not re-offend. 

Ireland remains the only EU State to not yet ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). Draft legislation was introduced in 2022 and was reviewed by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice. It could be progressed and enacted quickly if afforded priority by the next government. It would ensure independent oversight of all places of detention in Ireland and provide a preventative system of oversight to prevent harm and ill-treatment from occurring, rather than responding after the fact. 

Similarly, legislation to reduce barriers to employment and education for people with convictions was first proposed in 2018 and had cross-party support when it passed all stages in the Seanad in 2021. It could be enacted relatively quickly if the political will exists to do so. A whole-of-government strategy to support rehabilitation and reintegration would go a long way to fund and deliver supports and services to people on release from prison, which is clearly in everyone’s interests.  

Finally, we would urge the next government to develop an interdepartmental strategy to support children impacted by parental imprisonment who regularly face significant emotional, social and economic challenges, often leading to adverse impacts on their lives. Promoting social inclusion and supporting them to maintain a relationship with their parent is a low-cost, high-impact measure that ensures children’s rights are respected and that they do not have to bear the unintended consequences of parental imprisonment. 

In 2025, IPRT is calling on the incoming government to look at the evidence, listen to the officials who have recently made similar proposals and make the political and moral choice to invest in proven solutions rather than continue to invest in measures that do not deliver a humane system nor the public safety we all desire.   

Saoirse Brady is Executive Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

View 41 comments
Close
41 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lou Tennant
    Favourite Lou Tennant
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 10:36 AM

    If I ever met he creator of candy crush, it would take all my strength and willpower not to strangle them with my bare hands

    81
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Valentino R
    Favourite Valentino R
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 10:42 AM

    or beat them to death with a stick of rock.

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sternn
    Favourite Sternn
    Report
    Oct 29th 2015, 4:53 AM

    If you ever read the history of the game and the company which made it you most certainly would. They ripped off a free game called Candy Swipe which was released years before Candy Crush by a man named Albert Ransom. King.com robbed his idea, then trademarked it, and then sued him out of existence. Albert Ransom who made CandySwipe was trying to raise money and awareness for leukemia as his mother was diagnosed with it.

    Best part – that was not the first time King.com had done this to other small game developers, but due to US law they have robbed other games from smaller developers, changed one small feature, got a copyright on it, then sued the original creator for the rights and won thanks to their shady solicitors and mental IP laws in America.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Darcy
    Favourite James Darcy
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 10:44 AM

    I loved Facebook but it’s constant look for more interaction and invites and likes and all the other insecure BS drove me insane. Longing for the no-frills social network.

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Amanda Horan
    Favourite Amanda Horan
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 1:02 PM

    Try twitter. At the minute it has less frills but it will eventually go the same way.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mike Clinton
    Favourite Mike Clinton
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 10:58 AM

    If only my life was so boring that a few game invites infuriated me. Just ignore them, it’s a social media site .

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dread Pirate Robots
    Favourite Dread Pirate Robots
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 10:53 AM

    James, we just call it Twitter.

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Imogene O'Brien
    Favourite Imogene O'Brien
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 11:18 AM

    Friends have become enemies over candy crush invites. Family members have been blocked because of candy crush invites.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barbara Christopher
    Favourite Barbara Christopher
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 10:47 AM

    YESSSSSSS

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kevin Maughan
    Favourite Kevin Maughan
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 11:44 AM

    Thank Christ.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Harte
    Favourite Joe Harte
    Report
    Oct 28th 2015, 12:15 PM

    It still isn’t enough to keep people fro using facebook the way they did say 5 years ago.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel