The Minister for Justice and Law Reform, has published the new Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Bill 2011. This is intended to encourage the greater use of community service orders as an alternative to prison for people convicted of a minor offence.
The Bill is unlikely to be enacted during this Dail sitting, and will fall with the end of the Dail. However, it will be open to a new government to take it over, either as it is or modified. The Labour Party yesterday published its proposals on penal policy, which included a commitment to having the courts explore alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders.
Dermot Ahern's proposed new Bill will amend the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983 whereby courts will be required to consider imposing a community service order for minor offences where it would otherwise be appropriate to sentence the offender to imprisonment for a period of up to six months.
A CSO specifies the number of hours of work to be completed which may be between 40 and 240 hours. The court must establish from a probation officer that the person is suitable for such an order, that suitable work if available and the offender has consented to the order.
Mr Ahern said there was an under-utilisation of community service orders at the moment, and that the use of such orders delivered financial savings. "It diverts from the prison system offenders who would otherwise be imprisoned and provides reparation in the form of unpaid work to the benefit of the community," he said.
"If only 10 per cent of those offenders who were sentenced in 2009 to terms of imprisonment of up to six months were instead subject to a community service order, the projected savings to the exchequer would be in the vicinity of €14million to €17million. This does not include the financial value of the work carried out in the community. In 2007, a reasonable estimate of the value of the work performed under community service was €1.5million.
Referring to the under-utilisation of these orders, he pointed out that a 2009 Value for Money and Policy Review of the Community Service Scheme found that operating at full capacity, supervision services could be provided to three times as many offenders.
"It benefits offenders by diverting them from prison allowing them to maintain ties with family, friends and community, including continuing in education or employment. Communities throughout the country will benefit from the unpaid work carried out by those serving community service orders," Mr Ahern said.