A pilot project between the Probation Service and Dublin City Council will see convicted offenders clean graffiti from city centre buildings in the coming months, reports Olivia Kelly in today's Irish Times.
Those convicted of more serious crimes will not be considered for the service, and offenders will be supervised at all times while they carry out the labour, which will be free to the council.
A Probation Service supervisor and an industrial civil servant will accompany each team of five operatives; operatives will be offenders who have received a community service sentence. The Probation Service will carry out all training and supervision.
IPRT supports the development of community service sentences as an alternative to custodial sentences for those convicted of more minor offences. However, the aim of such sanctions should not be to humiliate the offenders; instead, the focus should be on constructive activity and community payback.
Read more:
- The Irish Times: 'Offenders to clean city buildings of graffiti'
- Irish Examiner: 'Call for antisocial offenders to be put ‘in distinctive overalls’
- Irish Examiner: 'Antisocial behaviour - Worthwhile suggestion'