Parliamentary Question: Juvenile Offenders

22nd February 2007

 78. Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform  the information he holds on the rates of recidivism amongst young offenders here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6861/07]

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell): While there have been some studies on this issue they have been sample based rather than longitudinal in nature. As the Deputy may be aware, the Government decided, in December 2005, to establish the Irish Youth Justice Service to take responsibility for the management and development of all services relating to young people who offend. This responsibility includes the management of the children detention schools which will transfer from the Department of Education and Science with effect from 1 March 2007 upon the commencement of relevant provisions of the Children Act 2001 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 2006.

The establishment of the Irish Youth Justice Service followed the Report on the Youth Justice Review. One of the findings of that Review was that there were gaps in data on youth justice and historical weaknesses in information gathering. It is a priority of the Service to address this issue and a researcher has been engaged on contract to establish baseline data from which a process of gathering longitudinal information on children who offend, including recidivism rates, can be set up. The transfer of the responsibility for the management of the children detention schools will facilitate my Department in tracking through the youth justice system those children who offend and, thereby, help establish recidivism rates in the future. The commissioning of a specific study into historical rates of recidivism amongst children who offend is being considered by my Department at present.