The Children's Court system is failing many young people and causing them to enter an "endless cycle of offending" often resulting in custodial sentences, new research has found.
A study of almost 1,000 cases in Children's Courts in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford, has raised serious concern that detention is not being used as a measure of last resort because of a lack of support and early intervention for young offenders.
The report by Dr Ursula Kilkelly, a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at University College Cork, has found a significant increase in detention rates in recent years from 10 per cent to more than 20 per cent, or almost 30 per cent if suspended sentences are included.
Of the cases that appeared before the courts during the study, the majority were male (93 per cent), aged between 16 and 17 (43 per cent) and tended to come from backgrounds of disadvantage and poverty.
A range of problems were prevalent among the children including mental health issues, behavioural problems (such as attention deficit disorder), substance abuse, and alcohol and drug addiction.
Despite presenting with such problems, in many cases the court did not appreciate the complexity of issues facing the child, the report says. It gives several examples including:
Limerick Children's Court was told that a young person with ADD, who was charged with a range of offences, got into trouble when he came off his medication, and also because of alcohol and drugs misuse. He was convicted and sentenced to a year in St Patrick's Institution;
A shabbily dressed 16-year-old with a history of health board care, who was charged with theft of beer, was criticised by a judge for failing to seek psychiatric assistance. He was remanded in Cork prison for two weeks.
While a parent or guardian is obliged to appear in court when the child's case is being heard, this was the case in just two-thirds of cases. There was no father figure present in court in 67 per cent of cases.
"While some fathers or male guardians may have been unavailable to attend court on the day in question, the absence of a male role model or father figure is, nonetheless, a serious issue in the lives of many young defendants in the Children's Court, the vast majority of whom are boys," the report says.
While few cases overall resulted in custodial sentences, the vast majority whose cases were adjourned were granted bail with conditions such as a curfew, restriction of movement or a direction to stay away from drugs or alcohol.
However, the lack of bail support and the lack of resources for the probation services means many of these aims are too onerous and are "setting up young people to fail".
The report, The Children's Court: A Children's Rights Audit, funded by the Irish Research Council, also found evidence of:
A serious lack of consistency between judges in sentencing which has led to "judge shopping" among young people;
A widespread failure to communicate directly or indirectly with young people using age-appropriate language or to explain procedures;
An occasional lack of quality legal representation. There were some solicitors who were unaware of key details of their client's case, such as age, and who were observed taking instructions while standing in the middle of the courtroom in the minutes before the judge began hearing the case.
