Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Dr. Katherine Zappone, T.D., and
Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality David Stanton,
T.D., today jointly published a progress report on ‘Tackling Youth Crime'
the Youth Justice Action Plan 2014-2018. The Report outlines the progress
made in 2014 and 2015 in implementing the Action Plan.
The Action Plan, which was launched in April 2014, focuses on children and
young people who require targeted, strategic attention because their
behaviour has led to their involvement in the youth justice system. The
Action Plan includes a number of specific goals and objectives targeted at
delivering better outcomes for children who get into trouble with the law,
and to reduce crime and make communities safer.
Implementation of the Action Plan is coordinated by a Cross-Agency
Implementation Team led by the Irish Youth Justice Service. The Progress
Report sets out an extensive list of developments over the period 2014/2015
under each of the five High Level Goals of the Action Plan. These include
the development of a Bail Supervision Scheme for young offenders, the
extension of the Garda Youth Diversion Project Network and the introduction
of a risk/needs assessment tool for use in the projects, the completion of
the re-development of the Children Detention Schools in Oberstown, the
enactment of the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 which provides the legal
framework to facilitate the amalgamation of the three schools into a single
campus for young offenders, and the completion of a study which examined
the influence of criminal networks on prolific youth offending.
Both the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Children
and Youth Affairs together with the relevant agencies will continue to work
closely together on implementing the remainder of the Youth Justice Action
Plan.
In publishing the Report today the Minister Stanton said, "Significant
progress was made by the various criminal justice agencies and Tusla in
2014 and 2015 in implementing actions set out in the Plan and further
progress will be reported in the 2016 progress report."
Referring to the statistical youth crime data in the Report the Minister
also said, “The falling numbers of young people being referred to the
statutory Garda Diversion Programme in recent years points to the positive
impacts of the Programme, supported by community based youth crime
interventions, in addressing the bulk of youth offending behaviour.”
Minister Zappone said that she particularly welcomes the establishment of a
Bail Supervision Scheme and that her Department will continue to work to
provide safe and secure accommodation for all young people and staff in the
Oberstown Campus.
The Progress Report is available on the websites of the Irish Youth Justice
Service, the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of
Children and Youth Affairs.
'Tackling Youth Crime' Youth Justice Action Plan 2014-2018 - Progress
Report 2014/2015