Greater use of community service orders as opposed to jail sentences is recommended in a new study.
The study of community service orders (CSOs) recommends that greater flexibility be introduced to allow judges greater discretion to use it for a wider range of offences.
The survey, An Empirical Study Of Community Service Orders In Ireland, was compiled by the Centre for Criminal Justice at the University of Limerick. The centre's director, Prof Dermot Walsh, said that Irish legislation, relative to legislation in other countries, was limited on when or how community service orders could be used.
"We really need to give the judge greater options with respect to the use of community service orders," he said.
He added that there was inconsistency between District Court areas in the use of CSOs. Detailed guidelines were required on when to use CSOs and what their equivalence in prison sentences should be.
"You tend to find that in rural areas CSOs are used more frequently for road-traffic and public-order offences than would be the case in urban areas."
There were also discrepancies in the equivalence of a CSO and the prison sentences imposed when the order is broken.
"A community service order in one area of 100 hours might be the equivalent of three months. In another area, it might be the equivalent of six months," he said.
The survey found that the typical offender sentenced to a CSO was a young male living with his parents and with poor educational and vocational skills.
More than half of those serving orders had a previous criminal record, and the most frequent crimes for which a CSO was imposed were larceny, less serious assaults and driving offences.
Older first-time offenders were most likely to complete a CSO, and absenteeism was likely when the work was boring or towards the end of the order.
"A completion rate of 81 per cent is in line with that in Europe, though this level is only achieved through much effort by probation staff," the survey states.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, who introduced the survey, said the fact that over four-fifths of community service orders were completed suggested real benefits were being realised.
"Non-custodial sanctions working in tandem with the ultimate sanction of imprisonment provide the necessary balance to ensure the safety of the general public and help the rehabilitation of the offender," he said.