The days of the court poor box will be numbered if the proposals in the latest Consultation Paper from the Law Reform Commission turn into legislation.
The paper, which will be launched by the Attorney General this evening, will propose replacing the court poor box with a court charity fund, to be placed on a statutory basis. Its use would then be regulated by law, replacing the existing ad hoc system which has operated for centuries.
Under the present system, people charged with minor criminal offences are sometimes asked to make a contribution to the court poor box when they get the benefit of the Probation Act, which allows them to avoid a criminal conviction. Occasionally, the donor does not avoid a criminal record.
The system is usually available to a first-time offender and is used most often in the District Court. The kind of charges where it is applied includes being drunk or disorderly, careless driving, petty larceny, minor assaults or cruelty to animals.
The amounts paid vary but are usually less than €1,000. However, in 1989 a payment of £25,000 was made in one case, and in 2003 a payment of €40,000 was made in another.
The amount paid to the court poor box has grown steadily in recent years, and over the past two years it has reached €1 million. Among the main beneficiaries are the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the Garda Benevolent Fund, and the North West Hospice and Victim Support.
Proponents of the system point out that it gives a first-time offender a chance to avoid a conviction and contains an element of restorative justice, where the charities benefiting are often linked to the crime committed. For instance, the ISPCA sometimes benefits if the person was charged with cruelty to animals.
However, it has also been criticised on a number of grounds. It operates in an arbitrary fashion, as not all district justices use it, so it is not available to some first-time offenders.
According to the commission report, some judges may be using it to impose an effective fine higher for the offence committed than is permitted by the legislation. It also points out that fines would otherwise go to the Exchequer.
The paper says that the use of the court poor box gives rise to the perception that the better off can buy their way out of a custodial sentence or a criminal record by making a substantial donation.
While the commission says that this perception is unjustified, nonetheless it underlines the need for reform.
It concludes that it should be replaced by a statutory system which avoids the disadvantages while incorporating the positive elements in the existing scheme.
The legislation should spell out the offences for which it would be available.