Written answers

Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Department of Justice and Equality

Sentencing Policy

Photo of Pádraig Mac LochlainnPádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

378. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to introduce a sentencing council or sentencing guidelines for the Judiciary. [48235/14]

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will appreciate, judges are independent in the matter of sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. The approach of the Oireachtas has generally been to specify in law a maximum penalty for an offence, so that a court, having considered all the circumstances of a case, may impose an appropriate penalty up to that maximum. The court is required to impose a sentence which is proportionate not only to the crime but to the individual offender, in that process identifying where on the sentencing range the particular case should lie and then applying any mitigating factors which may be present. An important safeguard rests in the power of the Director of Public Prosecutions who may apply to have a sentence reviewed if she regards it as unduly lenient.

The Superior Courts have developed a substantial body of case law setting out general principles of sentencing. Sentencing practice is also being developed by a steering committee of the judiciary which developed the Irish Sentencing Information System (ISIS) website, a pilot initiative designed to gather information about the range of sentences and other penalties that have been imposed for particular types of offences across court jurisdictions. ISIS is being developed as a valuable tool not only for members of the judiciary but also for lawyers, researchers and those concerned with the needs of victims and their families, the initiative which is being led by the Judiciary through the Judicial Research Office in undertaking the detailed work of gathering and providing information via the website.

I recently published the report of the Penal Policy Review Group which was tasked with carrying out a strategic review of penal policy. The Group was asked to make recommendations on how a principled and sustainable penal system might be further enhanced taking into account resource implications, constitutional imperatives and our international obligations.

The Report of the Review Group contains 43 recommendations some of which can be implemented in the short to medium term while others will require a more long term approach. As an initial step, the Government recently gave its approval, in principle, to proceed immediately with the implementation of a number of key recommendations including (i) preparing proposals and options for Government on reform of sentencing policy including a review of the threshold at which presumptive minimum sentences in drugs and other offences apply, and (ii) preparing proposals for Government on legislating for the review's recommendation that courts set out in writing their reasons for imposing a custodial sentence. This work is currently under way.

It might be noted that a Sentencing Council was not advocated by the Law Reform Commission in its Report on Mandatory Sentencing which was published in 2013. The report covers a number of complex issues and the recommendations contained in the report will be fully considered in my Department together with the report of the Penal Policy Review Group.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.