Gardaí to assess all sex offenders in next 3 months

GARDAÍ expect to have carried out risk assessments on more than 1,000 sex offenders living in the community within the next three months, it emerged yesterday.

Speaking at a forum on measures to manage convicted sex offenders, Detective Superintendent John McCann of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigations said that 50 gardaí had already received training in the risk assessment of sex offenders.

That training programme started just six weeks ago and he conceded that the process of assessing the 1,090 convicted sex offenders around the country was “a job of work that is ongoing”.

He said he had been assured by the Garda Commissioner that the resources required to carry out the task would be forthcoming.

The assessing of sex offenders is just one part of a range of measures being introduced, with Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern yesterday stressing the need to ensure there were “no gaps” in the system.

As reported in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, measures to be introduced include statutory powers for gardaí and the Probation Service, allowing them to apply to court to impose new conditions on sex offenders who are about to be released from prison and who are subject to post-release supervision.

Legislation will also be introduced to reduce the time within which convicted sex offenders must register with gardaí after release from prison or arrival in the country — they will be allowed only three days instead of seven before they must register. Non-statutory groups could become involved, the forum heard yesterday, but only if certain constitutional and data protection issues were resolved.

Yesterday’s forum was based on a document published in January and which is likely to form the base for new laws on the monitoring and treatment of convicted sex offenders.

A new therapeutic intervention programme began in January in Arbour Hill Prison with two other groups beginning programmes later this year.

Yesterday Mr Ahern said he hoped that 60 offenders will be treated each year while in prison.

Electronic tagging of high-risk offenders is also likely to be introduced, and those same high-risk offenders are likely to be regularly assessed as to the risk they pose to the community, Mr Ahern said.

However, yesterday’s forum also heard there was a shortage of treatment programmes for juvenile sex offenders — although a new programme has begun at St Patrick’s Institute for young offenders.

James Martin, chairman of the group that compiled the document, said the issue of incentivising treatment for offenders would also need to be addressed.

“All chances of proper intervention fail when an offender is harassed and goes underground,” he said.