• Child intervention services to form key element of Bail Supervision
Scheme for children in the criminal justice system
• Bail Supervision Scheme to be launched by Q2 of 2016
• Initiative aimed at addressing trends of children remanded in custody
in children detention school system
The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr James Reilly TD, has
announced the commencement of a tender process for the procurement of
intervention services for children under a new Bail Supervision Scheme
which is to be launched by Q2 of 2016.
Minister Reilly stated:
“I have instructed my Department to develop a new “bail supervision scheme”
which is to be introduced on a pilot basis in 2016. I intend that the
Scheme will provide more therapeutic supports in the community for children
who are subject to bail conditions. The aim of the scheme is to reduce the
need for a court to place young people in custody where they're alleged to
have been involved in criminal behaviour, while being remanded on bail
pending criminal proceedings. I have today authorised the issue of an open
request for tenders from suitably qualified and interested providers to
deliver an intervention service as part of the proposed bail supervision
scheme”.
“It is important to note that the discretion as to whether or not to remand
a child in custody is solely for a judge to decide on an independent basis
in individual cases. There are also various legal safeguards in the
Children Act 2001 to ensure that detention is a last resort and that all
children remanded in custody have access to independent legal assistance”.
“However, there is a high degree of remand in custody for children in the
criminal justice system. At any one time, approximately 50% of places in
the children detention school system are taken up by children remanded in
custody. The comparable figure in the adult prison system is 15%. There
may be many factors affecting individual cases but we would like to reduce
the use of such a high proportion of remand in the case of children”.
The Minister also indicated that the proposed scheme would be operational
on a pilot basis by Q2 of 2016 and would be commenced in the Dublin court
area. The scheme is an initiative under the Youth Justice Action Plan 2014
– 2018 and will be overseen by the Irish Youth Justice Service, Department
of Children and Youth Affairs, in consultation with the Oberstown Children
Detention Campus, the Probation Service, Tusla – the Child and Family
Agency, an Garda Síochána and the Irish Prison Service
The request for tenders will be available on the website
www.etenders.gov.ie from 13 January 2016.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
General information on the pilot Bail Supervision Scheme
The choice available to a court when a child is not complying with their
bail conditions is limited to ‘bail or no-bail’. In these situations the
court is often presented with a child bereft of many of the social,
educational and emotional supports that many take for granted. There may be
a number of such remand episodes punctuated by court appearances before a
child is finally acquitted or dealt with by the court.
Many of the children concerned may have experienced repeat episodes of
detention or state care, have addiction problems, difficult home lives
and/or are under the coercive influence of adult criminal networks in their
home communities. Any intervention needs to take account of these complex
and multiple risks. An appropriately structured ‘bail supervision’ scheme
could assist such children in making positive behavioural changes within a
regime of strict supervision of bail conditions laid down by the court.
Such a scheme for these children should offer the court a new option to
help a child to moderate chaotic circumstances and promote greater
stability, using wherever possible mainstream community resources
(including access to training, education and health related services).
The pilot bail supervision scheme will be underpinned by an independently
sourced intervention model. In practical terms a team of three or four
staff will operate the bail supervision scheme, which for the pilot period
will serve up to 25 young people in the Dublin court area. The team will be
managed by a suitably qualified person with responsibility for all clinical
supervision and two/three staff delivering the agreed intervention.