The Expert Group on Crime Statistics has not fully discharged its terms of reference, according to a minority which prepared its own report. The minority dissents from the proposal to set up a central crime statistics unit within the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, claiming that the case for such a unit has not been made.
"It is premature to advise on new - and potentially expensive - institutional arrangements for the collation and publication of data relating to the agencies of the criminal justice system (Garda, courts, prisons and probation) when the critical question of data quality remains to be addressed," the minority states.
But it supports all the recommendations of the majority concerning what should be done before any body is established.
The minority said the expert group was asked to examine "the collation of information relating to crimes reported to and recorded by An Garda Síochána", but says it did not evaluate how the policies underlying the Garda PULSE recording system worked in practice. "Nor did it come to any understanding of the extent to which reported crimes are not recorded. This means the group can come to no conclusion about the quality, reliability and accuracy of Garda data."
It suggests the fluctuations in the crime statistics for 2000-03 are unlikely to reflect changes in the underlying level of criminal activity, but rather changes in recording. "This raises questions about the completeness of record-keeping in previous years," it says.
"The group was asked to examine 'the Principal Offence rule which is used by the Garda Síochána and other counting rules' [which are\] of critical importance to the interpretation of Garda statistics, but were not deliberated upon by the group," it states. It adds that the group did not explore the abolition of the distinction between headline and non-headline offences (bicycle theft and shop-lifting are "headline", while having a knife, public order offences and dangerous driving are "non--headline").
The minority also implicitly criticises the co-operation received from An Garda Síochána. "The group was asked to consider the 'appropriateness of the Commissioner's report'," it says. "It was not possible to come to any final conclusion in this regard, in part because a detailed position paper presented to An Garda Síochána on December 12th, 2003 had not resulted in a response when the majority report was agreed 12 weeks later."
Two of the three members of the sub-group that drew up this paper are signatories to the minority report, it says. The minority report is signed by Dr Ian O'Donnell, Institute of Criminology in UCD, and Ms Mary Burke and Ms Nicola Hughes, both of the National Crime Council.