Community courts ‘could cut re-offending by 10%’

Community-based courts could reduce re-offending rates by around 10%, international research suggests.

The local form of justice is also credited with improving compliance rates with court sanctions and saving more money than it costs to run them.

A range of international and domestic experts and interest groups addressed the Oireachtas Justice Committee yesterday as part of renewed interest in community courts.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who attended the hearing, said he “firmly believed” in the courts and signalled his support for a pilot project.

But he said it would only work if it was a “fully integrated project” involving all the necessary state and community services.

Community courts are aimed at addressing relatively minor local crimes with the interests of the victims, local communities, and offenders in mind.

Julius Lang of the New York Centre for Court Innovation, said they have “endured and thrived” since the first one was set up in Times Square in 1993.

Mr Lang said that instead of spending a night in jail, offenders are given a community restitution assignment, such as removing graffiti and cleaning parks. But they also receive all the necessary social services, from drugs, to mental health, to housing, delivered that day or the next day.

He said a 10% reduction in re-offending was realistic.

Philip Bowen of the Centre for Justice Innovation, in the UK, said research of courts in Australia found savings outweighed costs by ratio of 2:1. But he said not all evaluations were positive and that research from a Liverpool court were mixed.

Ken Murphy of the Law Society said any community court would have to the properly resourced.

Judge Michael Reilly, who chaired a 2007 report on community courts, said it would take a “reforming mind” to push it.

Mr Shatter signalled a pilot project in Dublin city centre would be the way to go, where the Department of Justice, Courts Service and other services, as well as the business community, would operate.