Fight crime by seizing the proceeds - EU moves against criminals’ loot

Irish recidivism rates remain stubbornly high, usually between 40% and 50%. This institutionalised failure suggests the arguments made by those who would reform the penal system are stronger than many would admit. That, however, is unlikely to provoke fundamental change.

From one perspective, our over-crowded, drug-riddled prisons look Victorian, relics of another time when an offender was denied liberty as a punishment and to protect society from their predations. This is an extremely expensive way to administer justice, especially as it seems more a transitory stage than a solution for nearly one-in-two offenders. It is also expensive in human terms so maybe it’s time to consider how our prison system works and, especially, the way we define the kind of sanctions we impose on offenders.