A new Garda initiative is bringing young offenders face to face with victims in a bid to help them see the errors of their ways and the impact their crimes are having on others.
Ms Mairead Fernane, the head of a support group for victims, believes that initiatives such as the Garda Diversion Programme are a good idea because “the less offenders, the less victims.”
Elaborating on her view of the new programme, Ms Fernane said “I suppose the way we feel about it is, number one the victim will be our priority. I think that it has to be very much in total agreement with the victim, if a victim is unsure or uncertain, I don’t think it should go ahead.
“The choice has to be the victim’s as to whether they want to partake … where I do see it being helpful is with young people, maybe first time offenders,” said Ms Fernane.
The Diversion Programme is a package of measures for dealing with children between the age of 10 years and 18 years, who commit an offence or offences. The Programme is managed by a Garda Superintendent appointed by the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána and is known as the Director of the Programme.
To qualify for the programme one must be between the age of 10 years and 18 years, accept responsibility for his/her criminal behaviour and consent to being cautioned and where appropriate, supervised.
“I think that if you get somebody who has committed an offence for the first time, show them the result of the crime and the repercussions from it, try and give them that sense of responsibility, this is the problem that they have caused and that it is not acceptable, then maybe it might work for them,” said Ms Fernane.
"With respect to non first time offenders and incorporating them in to such a programme Ms Fernane said “I would be more sceptical of serial offenders because they have gone through the system so many times. Perhaps they have become a little bit hardened by it all and maybe they would not be as open to it [the programme] … I would be more in favour of young first time offenders."
"I think if you get a young person and they do something that they don’t realise the repercussions of, then I think if a victim did decide to meet them and it had been explained to the young person and maybe if they were apologetic about it, I think it might result in the victim feeling a bit more secure that this person would not come back to them again … I think I could give that kind of reassurance."
“This is an opportunity for a young person who becomes involved in crime for the first time to give them an opportunity to mend their ways because I’m sure everybody has done something in their life that they are not particularly proud of, they would like to forget it and be given the opportunity to forget it, past the one [offence] I wouldn’t be going too far.”
Speaking on the impact that crime has on victims, Ms Fernane said a number of things can happen to a victim of a crime depending on the event itself. With respect to the practicalities, for example, a person’s home may have been broken into, the property may be damaged and items may have been stolen. This may incur a cost for the victim, insurance premiums may increase, there is a lot of hassle.
Another aspect is perhaps certain items of sentimental value such as jewellery from a loved one which are irreplaceable are gone. “That’s very hard because what’s inside your home is yours.”
Fear is another factor that comes into play, “will it happen again, is the same person watching me, the minute I go out the door, will it happen again or will it happen while I’m inside the home. These are all things that can follow,” explained Ms Fernane.
“People do become fearful and people do become nervous and they become very anxious,” said Ms Fernane.
“We often hear the expression that everyone deserves a chance, well I think the young offenders deserve a chance, but the victim has to come first in all of this.”
According to a statement from Assistant Garda Commissioner, John Twomey, the total number of referrals made to the Diversion Programme during 2010 was 27,257, an increase of 3,305 or 13.8 per cent on 2009. The total number of individual children referred to the programme was 17,986 which is a decrease of 533 or 2.9 per cent from the 2009 total. Of those children referred 12,899 (72 per cent) were admitted to the Diversion Programme.
The statement also noted that a significant development has been the integration of the Diversion Programme database with the Garda PULSE system. This has led to improvements in the timeliness of the referrals of young people for consideration in the programme and greater efficiencies in the administration of the Diversion Programme as a whole.
It has also allowed for statistics to be presented in line with Central Statistics Office Crime Classifications. This will enable more in-depth comparisons of crime patterns and trends in the future.
