Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I propose to share time with Deputies Healy, Wallace, Clare Daly, and Ross. I support the Restorative Justice (Reparation of Victims) Bill 2013. I have listened to points raised by people saying that restorative justice should be brought into modern legislation. It has been brought in recently in the North. Restorative justice is not a new thing; rather, it is thousands of years old. Under Brehon laws in Ireland, compensation was the mode of justice in most crimes.

The modern legal system is based on the concept that crime is not an injury to the person but an offence against the State. This was hammered home to me a few years ago when the son of a friend of mine was murdered. The State stepped in to represent the person who was murdered but the barrister had no obligation to deal with the victim's family. In this case, the barrister had the goodwill to speak to the family and explain what was happening in the case but, otherwise, the family would have been excluded. They would have had to go into the courts and listen to what was said about their son. This hammered home the nature of our system, which is not based on victims or dealing with victims' issues. It deals with an offence against the State.

It is a system based on punishment and it does not work. The most recent CSO figures indicate that 50% of people released from prison reoffend within three years. That is a high rate. Certain types of criminals are a danger to people. Should they be in prison? Yes. If someone rapes somebody, he or she should be in prison. Repeat offenders should be in prison if they have no remorse or concern for the impact their actions have on victims. Restorative justice can be effective in confronting young offenders, from 18 years of age up, with the consequences of their actions. They must be confronted with the impact on victims. Making restitution to victims can be part of the process of helping them to go straight and not to reoffend. Offenders who genuinely engage with victims and who genuinely seek to make restitution through payment or otherwise should have this amount to an alternative to prison. It should be taken into account. Restorative justice has been shown to be extremely beneficial to victims of crime, helping them to get over trauma, get on with their lives, overcome the fear of being victimised again and to deal with their anger or desire for revenge. It is a process that should be examined by this Government.

The Government signed up to the European Council directive on compensation for crime victims. It is not contrary to the intention of the Government to sign up to a form of restorative justice. The Bill moves the process on and provides a good basis for the introduction of a system of restorative justice. Children are not involved as the criminal courts only deal with those aged over 18 years. The mentally ill are not involved either as they cannot be tried. All of the issues being thrown into the mix are intended to muddy the waters. The proposals made by Deputy John Halligan are very specific. The Bill provides a good outline of the way to proceed. I am sure he would welcome support from the Government to amend the Bill, but its essence is a positive step forward and should be considered as part of a restorative justice process.

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