Public want more gardaí in fight against crime

THE public want more gardaí but fewer prison places as their first response to tackling crime.

They also believe drug-addicted criminals need rehabilitation, not imprisonment, and say offenders with psychiatric problems should be accommodated in mental health treatment units instead of jails.

A pre-election poll commissioned by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) showed that most people greatly overestimated the proportion of inmates in prison for violent offences when prison service records show less than 20% of prisoners are serving time for crimes involving violence.