Last week the Government announced that it is to put in place a system of justice to deal specifically with young people who get into trouble with the law. These measures have been long promised, and many of them were contained in the six-year-old Children's Act, much of which remained unimplemented because of a lack of resources. The fact that the implementation package comes so long after the Act was passed should not take away from the warm welcome it now deserves.
The promised measures include a specially trained panel of judges who will specialise in dealing with children who come before the courts. It also includes more juvenile liaison officers among the Garda Síochána and increased resources for the probation service. Together these will provide for a range of community-based sanctions aimed at diverting children who fall into offending behaviour away from detention and into the welfare system.
The 2001 Act allows the Children's Court to adjourn criminal proceedings where it considers the child's real problem was the need for care and protection. The local health board, now the Health Service Executive (HSE), can be asked to convene a family welfare conference and report back to the court on what action, if any, it intends to take. This can include seeking from the court a range of orders, including care orders and supervision orders. If satisfied that the measures planned would divert the child away from offending behaviour, the court has discretion on whether or not to dismiss the charge.
The Act also envisages a range of sanctions against a child, including eight that fall short of detention. These include probation and training orders, orders for day care and orders for supervision and mentor orders, as well as orders aimed at involving parents in the process.
The lack of implementation of these measures due to lack of resources led to criticism of the Government by child welfare bodies, which was increased by the Government's decision to introduce antisocial behaviour orders without resourcing the measures it had already provided for in law. This omission has now been corrected.
The measures just announced will put additional strain upon the HSE which will be involved in the family-focused welfare measures envisaged by the package. It is vital that its child protection and family support services receive the resources they need to make these measures a success. Diverting as many young offenders as possible away from detention, where they would be incarcerated for substantial periods with others experienced in criminal behaviour, can only be to the benefit of society in the long run.