LEVELS OF reported youth crime fell for the first time in six years in 2008, with 27,422 incidents notified to the Garda, a decrease of 1.5 per cent on the previous year.
New figures published yesterday show one-fifth of all juvenile offences related to alcohol consumption. Road traffic offences and theft were the second most common offences, accounting for a further 30 per cent of incidents.
A small fraction of reported incidents by juveniles were of a very serious nature, with three murders, 60 sexual assaults and 24 rapes or attempted rapes, according to the annual report of the committee set up to monitor the Garda Diversion Programme.
This programme aims to steer young offenders away from prosecution in the courts and possible detention. It focuses on providing supervision by juvenile liaison officers and rehabilitation of youth offenders in the community.
The fall in the number of reported incidents of youth crime in 2008 is the first decline since 2003, when 20,647 incidents were notified to the Garda. The number of children referred to the Garda Diversion Programme also fell by 2 per cent in 2008, to 21,412.
Finbar Murphy, the inspector in charge of the Garda office of children and youth affairs, said the drop in the referrals reflected an increase in resources invested in dealing with youth crime since the Children’s Act was passed.
“We think the additional resources put into working with young people at an early stage are now beginning to pay dividends. Juvenile liaison officers are also working more closely with other agencies such as the probation service, youth workers and the health service,” Mr Murphy said, adding that he was confident this downward trend would continue.
He said 85 per cent of all youth offending was now dealt with through the diversion programme, which generally issued cautions rather than prosecution.
There was a small increase in the number of restorative events organised by the Garda Diversion Programme in 2008. These typically involve offenders meeting victims or the families of victims of crime. There were 422 events in 2008, up from 378 a year earlier.
Some 7,016 of the 27,422 incidents referred to in the programme could not be dealt with through the restorative process because they were either too serious or because children did not admit their guilt. This led to 3,417 prosecutions of juveniles in 2008.
The committee’s annual report shows some 302 children under the age of 12 were referred to the diversion programme, which amounts to about 1 per cent of cases.
Some 910 children aged 12 were referred to the programme, 1,878 13-year-olds, 3,188 14-year-olds, 4,970 15-year-olds, 6,458 16-year-olds and 9,716 17-year-olds.
Some 11,796 children had their cases dealt with by way of informal caution and 3,958 had their cases dealt with by a formal caution, which requires ongoing supervision.
The report says there were seven new juvenile liaison officer positions created in 2008.
There are 101 juvenile liaison officers and eight juvenile liaison sergeants working on the programme.