Local ‘courts’ a f irst step to zero tolerance on city crime
A NEW justice initiative – similar to the zero tolerance that was so successful in New York – is on the cards, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The community justice intervention programme will be launched here this year as an alternative to sending lowlevel offenders through the courts system.
A Dublin-based pilot scheme will see offenders accused of petty crimes such as antisocial behaviour, criminal damage and graffiti having their cases heard quickly.
It is principally intended to deal with the persistent public order offences being committed on the Liffey Boardwalk and O’Connell Street areas.
A similar system has been credited with the metamorphosis in New York City that saw Times Square change from a no-go area to a family destination. It is hoped a similar outcome is achievable for Dublin City Centre, which has become a national embarrassment in recent years.
A Justice Department source told the MoS that a working group established by Frances Fitzgerald is recommending the new programme.
‘The initiative would provide a speedy response compared to the courts. It would divert offenders from the courts system and seek to address their underlying offending behaviour. It’s likely to be led by the probation service and piloted in 2016 in Dublin City Centre,’ said the high-level source.
The initial proposal was submitted by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice which suggested mimicking the successful Midtown Community Court in New York City.
However, the department decided to remove use of the word ‘court’ for legal reasons, mainly because of concerns over any official acceptance that the initiative would replace judicial systems.
‘There is a particular status for courts in our Constitution,’ said a department source.
However, it appears that the status was carefully positioned so as not to offend the powerful lawyers lobby. That group has already succeeded in having a reforming Legal Services Bill watered down.
The department will proceed with the programme in March. It will be closely based on a model in the Netherlands with elements of the New York
Similar system a huge success in New York
system, the MoS has learned.
The hearings would be conducted by a senior member of the Probation Service and in most cases a community service sentence will be handed down. This will involve working on public buildings, cleaning streets, pruning trees and other useful tasks. The community service managers will be on site for the hearings and offenders could find themselves put to work that day.
However, if offences are found to be serious the accused will be referred to the courts.
Chairman of the Oireachtas justice committee David Stanton said the plan, which has been rolled out to 30 more US cities, as well as to Canada and the UK, could work.
‘Low-level offenders, like in New York, will be brought before the intervention programme at an early time. You can’t transplant a system directly into Ireland, it has to be adapted to suit Ireland,’ said the Fine Gael TD.
‘The big thing about this is the support services that exist. So whenever somebody is arrested, say for shoplifting or whatever and they are brought before the court, I’m saying within two hours they could be before a commission.
‘Almost exclusively in New York they get community service and they start that day or the next day. They are monitored and if they behave the record will be deleted and that is the end of it.’
Offenders could be put to work the same day