Crime victims to benefit from poor box changes

A FUND to help victims of crime has been recommended by a Law Reform Commission (LRC) report. The new financial reparation fund would replace the poor box system now in use.

A draft bill, published with the LRC report, sets out how the proposed financial reparation fund would be applied: payments to the fund would be made by people who had a charge against them dismissed either because it was trivial or because of their personal circumstances.

Currently, where a person is charged with a minor offence they may be asked to make a contribution to the poor box to avoid a criminal conviction.

The Courts Service said €928,000 was raised by the poor box last year, and €1.12 million was paid out to various charities.

It is envisaged the proposed fund would be managed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Apart from assisting crime victims, the fund would also be applied to address the causes of crime and help prevent offending behaviour.

As the poor box system was not enshrined in law, it operated according to the discretion of individual district court judges. The use of the poor box varies from district to district, as do the recipients of the money raised.

The LRC report recommends that under a reformed Probation of Offenders Bill the reparation fund should only apply to summary offences tried in the district courts.

It also recommends the reparation fund should only be used when a charge is dismissed and never when an offender has been convicted. 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.

It is proposed the reparation fund would be distributed on the advice of an advisory committee, consisting of a judge of the district and circuit courts, and one member each from the Probation and Welfare Service, the National Crime Council and the Department of Justice.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell who welcomed the report, said it would be examined with a view to implementing its recommendations.