SOCIETY SHOULD try prioritising treatment rather than custodial sentence as the "dominant punishment" for sex offenders, NUI Galway senior law lecturer Tom O'Malley has said. Lorna Sigginsreports.
Such an approach should be applied at least on an experimental basis, Mr O'Malley told the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers in Galway yesterday, where lack of adequate State resources for such treatment was also highlighted.
Speaking about the impact of current legislation on protection of children, Mr O'Malley said that in many instances treatment for sex offenders had proven to be far more effective as a form of punishment. There was scope for a combination of both treatment and imprisonment.
However, when courts gave lenient sentences, there was the "usual hullabaloo" and calls for the "removal of the judge", he said. In fact, under powers held by the Director of Public Prosecutions since 1993, unduly lenient sentences could be, and are, referred to the Court of Criminal Appeal, he pointed out.
Mr O'Malley said that society had to be prepared "collectively" to take responsibility and allow for greater latitude in applying treatment, even if it meant not sending an offender to prison. Judges could also do a lot more in making their sentencing principles "more transparent", he said.
Forensic psychotherapist Alan Corbett said that community-based treatment programmes for offenders were particularly effective, given that 90 per cent of offenders lived in the community and only 10 per cent were in prison.
Such programmes had to be part of a multi-agency approach, involving the Garda, Health Service Executive, Probation Service and Irish Prison Service, he stressed. "Pockets of excellence" existed in Ireland, citing community initiatives like Athru in the west and Cosc in Donegal, but there were also serious gaps in special residential services and in treatment options.
Early intervention was crucial, and could be very successful, Mr Corbett said, given that international research has shown that up to a third of sexual abuse was perpetrated by people under 18 years of age.
Some 25 per cent of adolescents in this category began showing sexually inappropriate behaviour during childhood, and this could be due to a trauma or series of traumas experienced during key developmental stages, he said.
One of the reasons for a lack of resources, particularly for assessment and treatment of young people, could be because of society's difficulty with accepting this form of behaviour, he said.
The conference was opened by Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews.