Legislation to replace the court poor box with a reparation fund is likely to follow the publication of a report from the Law Reform Commission today.
The proposal comes in a Draft Probation of Offenders Bill published with the report, which will be launched by the chief executive of the Courts Service, P J Fitzpatrick. Under the draft Bill, a reparation fund would be set up, into which payments would be made by people who had a charge against them dismissed either because it was of a trivial nature, or because of their personal circumstances.
The fund would be set up, managed and controlled by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and money paid would be applied to provide assistance and reparation to the victims of crime, and to address the causes of, and help prevent, offending behaviour.
The report follows a consultation paper on the poor box published last year. This examined the operation of the court poor box system, which is used where a person is charged with a minor offence and is asked to make a contribution to the poor box to avoid a criminal conviction.
Because this system had no statutory basis it operated according to the discretion of individual district justices. The use of the poor box varied from district to district, as did the recipients of the money raised.
According to a spokesman for the Courts Service, €928,000 was raised by the poor box last year, and €1.12 million was paid out to various charities.
While no breakdown was available either of the income or the recipients, the spokesman confirmed that the Society of St Vincent de Paul received a considerable proportion of the funds.
The Law Reform Commission report recommends a reformed Probation of Offenders Bill, incorporating the replacement of the poor box with a reparation fund. It should only apply to summary offences tried in the District Court.
It also recommends that the reparation fund should only be used when a charge is dismissed, and never when an offender has been convicted. No conviction would then be recorded.
The draft Bill also allows for a conditional dismissal of charges, where no conviction is recorded if all the conditions are met. These could include payment into the reparation fund, being of good behaviour for a specified time, or abiding by orders relating to counselling, treatment for addictions, residence, mediation or reparation.
The reparation fund, which would be ring-fenced, would be distributed on the advice of a committee consisting of a judge from the District and Circuit Courts, a member of the Probation and Welfare Service, a representative of the National Crime Council and of the Department of Justice.
Welcoming the publication of the report, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said he noted the draft Bill it contained, and added that the report would be examined with a view to action on its recommendations.