Long sentences for drug crimes 'rare'

PROCEDURES:THE USE of long sentences for drug offences is rare in Ireland and other European countries, a new report has found.

The report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, released yesterday, found there were no cases where the offender received the maximum sentence for supply in Ireland in 2007.

The average sentence for drug offences in Ireland was two years and 10 months.

Long sentences were expected to act as a deterrent, the report said.

However, the data presented showed the use of long prison sentences was rare.

The minimum sentence in Ireland of 10 years’ imprisonment for trafficking drugs had only been applied in three of 55 eligible cases between 1999 and 2001, the study said. The bulk of the sentences fell in the range six to eight years.

In England and Wales, Sweden and Ireland there were no cases where the offender received the maximum sentence for supply in 2007, it said.

“The courts justified lower sentences by exceptional and specific circumstances and by most defendants pleading guilty,” the report found.

It also found Ireland was one of only five European Union countries that sentenced drug offenders to community work rather than a prison sentence.

And it highlighted the need for ongoing evaluation of drugs policy.

“A process evaluation, using sentencing and other outcome statistics . . . would allow countries to understand how the majority of offenders are leaving the criminal justice system, and whether they are leaving by the routes intended by the lawmakers or by other routes,” it said.