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custody “made no sense at all” (A8J1SC). Notwithstanding the general public sentiment that non-custodial sanctions should be used in preference to custody (National Crime Council Forum 1998) it is evident from the annual statistical returns on sentencing that the courts are far from enthusiastic to adopt such an approach to sentencing (Courts Service Annual Report 2004,2005,2006). Moreover, the general use of community service since 1984 has remained consistentlylowrelative to custodial sentencing during the same period. In 2006 only 1158 community service orders were made in total by all of the criminal courts in Ireland (Petrus VFM2009). 51 But howwould one knowif a custodial sentence was originallyintended when community service is applied as a sentence? Senator O’Leary’s cautionary comment that sentencers often threaten to send a person to prison without really intending to give effect to such admonitions is apposite when considering the intentionality of sentencers to impose communityservice orders. The judges’ responses to questions on the likely outcome of breach proceedings were analysed to discern the original intention to genuinely substitute a custodial sentence with the alternative of communityservice. In the qualitative study of judges` practices and intentions, those interviewed with few exceptions held strongly to the view that once a case is returned to court for an alleged breach of community service the sentence of imprisonment is invariably imposed upon a finding of breach. This suggests that a custodial sentence was actually intended originally and was then substituted by community service. These views were expressed notwithstanding the power of the court to deal with the offender “in any manner” under Sections 7-11 Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983. In support of this the followingviews are taken fromthe study: “I woulddeal with it punitively.”A1J9HC “Instant incarceration.”A1J7DC “Similar … orders are indivisible.”A1J5DC 51 The Petrus report reveals that communityservice is not utilisedin a significant number of courts andcourt areas. 173
“Definitelya term of imprisonment”A1J1DC “Almost without variation I impose penaltyin full.”A4J2DC “NormallyI wouldimpose the sentence … no discount for time served.”A2J1DC While others took a more nuancedapproach: “…if there is a total breach or non-attendance and the fellow won’t get up in the morning then I just abandon the whole thing and send him to prison… if the offender has gone a good measure of complying then yougive himthe “fall of the trick”, read the riot act to himandstart again.”A5J1CC “It depends on the breach. To impose the original sentence it would take a major breach … very often they would have a reason whatever it is ; mymother is sick or mygirlfriend is pregnant or the child was sick or something like that. If they are sufficiently well represented by somebody particularly articulate, they may well overcome any difficulties they have. It depends on the circumstances.”A3J1CC “I wouldadjourn a breach summons. If no effort is made at all I wouldinvoke sentence.”A6J1DC “If there is a half genuine reason for not completing the order, I in most cases, give time to do it.”A2J1DC “If he simply fails to in total to turn up and do his community service then he serves the sentence. He’s the fellowwho just thought he got a free pass and he needs to be shown. If there are reasons why he has done most of it, that something happened, then you look at it. Maybe there might be a slap on the wrist. Maybe he serves a portion of the sentence.”A7J1CC Ultimately both groups above subscribed to the imposition of a custodial sentence upon breach and generally were not prepared to deal with breaches except by reference to the custodial option notwithstanding that they could have simply ignored the breach or imposed a fine instead. This lends support to the conclusion that community service is applied in Ireland as a decarcerative procedure in conformitywith the requirements of sec. 2 of the Act. The qualitative data of this study discloses that community service is a sanction which is used predominantly in the District Court. When the sanction is used in the Circuit or 174
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Title The role of the community ser
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DECLARATION The contents of this th
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Acknowledgements I wish to acknowle
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration .....
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Activation Of The Suspended Sentenc
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from an assumed jurisdiction of the
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Probation Service. Instead each age
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these considerations are subject to
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not slow to inform the “naïve”
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the PhD programme. Notwithstanding
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One of the constant criticisms of t
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the year 2006 for a whole year surv
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the exigencies which presented befo
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eference solely to the function of
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In addition to the general, social
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having been exported from the Antip
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Any attempt to locate the origins o
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Hulks or Prison Ships The Act which
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Many of these commentators have arg
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The use of impressment must also be
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simultaneouslydivertingthe investig
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Wales rose during the same period d
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Thus, against this bleak background
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We do not think it is easyor wise t
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While these latter factors maybe se
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we consulted about the need for for
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taking of vehicles, for some of the
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character of the voluntary sector i
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The Bill was essentially structured
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As community service schemes were t
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significant debate in subsequent st
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imposed, must be described as punis
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this was provided for in sections 1
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(ii) PUNISHMENT Reference has alrea
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that by inserting offenders into su
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not be measured by the same criteri
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encountered by others less-fortunat
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participation do so for a very shor
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ehabilitative potential and such di
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into a relationship of mutual inter
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These issues were examined in this
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CHAPTER 2 COMMUNITY SERVICE ORDERS
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Some aspects of the new functions w
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1977:112). As will be seen later (C
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within one year. The inevitability
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characterised by some British proba
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turn. If the offender turns up and
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former court but not necessarily so
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imprisonment, the suspended sentenc
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not receive a custodial sentence. B
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inhibits any clear measurement of e
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were still significantly belowthe p
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Participation byan offender on comm
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In England and Wales the unknown ri
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unsatisfactory or unreasonable by S
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learned the limits to which theycou
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for non-compliance. Where the proba
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how do Judges deal with breach of c
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administration of the community ser
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control can have the effect of dive
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Manyresponded … byindicating that
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“I cannot think of anycase in whi
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CONCLUSION Throughout this chapter
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CHAPTER 3 “Laws, like houses, lea
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1986). Elements which were consider
Page 131 and 132: elationship between the host and re
Page 133 and 134: justice measure from Britain was id
Page 135 and 136: offences by recidivist offenders. 2
Page 137 and 138: eyond the area of offenders for who
Page 139 and 140: provide a significant element of re
Page 141 and 142: problems was seen as whollyinapprop
Page 143 and 144: softlysoftlyapproach adopted in the
Page 145 and 146: Thus the stage was set for somethin
Page 147 and 148: The White Paper set out a series of
Page 149 and 150: An amendment by Dr Michael Woods, T
Page 151 and 152: Andhe further suggested: Very often
Page 153 and 154: c) That under this Act the District
Page 155 and 156: These provisions empower the courts
Page 157 and 158: task of reporting on the defendant
Page 159 and 160: While the legislation and regulatio
Page 161 and 162: service order must specify the alte
Page 163 and 164: This reply identifies not only the
Page 165 and 166: the Probation Service to operationa
Page 167 and 168: Accordingly when the Probation Serv
Page 169 and 170: custodial penalties. As previously
Page 171 and 172: particularly in cases of drunk-driv
Page 173 and 174: this ranging from 63 hours to 11 ho
Page 175 and 176: made which provided for a substitut
Page 177 and 178: at each jurisdictional level. The D
Page 179 and 180: This view was reinforced in a study
Page 181: But when the relatively low level o
Page 185 and 186: who might be suitable for it becaus
Page 187 and 188: The offender was presented in the r
Page 189 and 190: “I would be slow in crimes where
Page 191 and 192: Why is the sanction not used more o
Page 193 and 194: custodial or non-custodial, will be
Page 195 and 196: Perceptions by the Judges that fine
Page 197 and 198: Insofar as it is possible to discer
Page 199 and 200: e amended to delete the requirement
Page 201 and 202: allows a community service order to
Page 203 and 204: year community service was introduc
Page 205 and 206: anypenaltyimposedon a childfor an o
Page 207 and 208: Section 110 provides: 1) Where a co
Page 209 and 210: (a) the revocation of anylicence, (
Page 211 and 212: accordance with the subsequent prov
Page 213 and 214: this chapter. The Minister of State
Page 215 and 216: An analysis of the wording that “
Page 217 and 218: andseventeen year olds will undoubt
Page 219 and 220: communityservice into two categorie
Page 221 and 222: standards for sixteen/seventeen yea
Page 223 and 224: disengagement fromthe former coloni
Page 225 and 226: formal imposition of a custodial se
Page 227 and 228: punishment where a threat of activa
Page 229 and 230: sessions (Hardiman 2004:5). By way
Page 231 and 232: Thus the suspended sentence is seen
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validity of the procedure as a sent
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present case”. (R-v-Wightman, 195
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policy of using the suspended sente
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to the emergence of agreement on pr
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sentence. In the Alexiou case, Murr
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deal with the suspendedin a statuto
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criminogenic circumstances which is
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sentence. Sequentially, a custodial
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cases it is not uncommon for the de
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“I don’t tend to favour suspend
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“If you have a person who has bee
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sentence andwhere suspension should
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“This is a very difficult one to
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But the “custodial” designation
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who got verylong suspended sentence
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which is reflectedin the suspendedt
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might otherwise be thought bythe pr
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that the suspended sentence contain
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would apply if an actual custodial
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and this would clearly be the case
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England and Wales. A practice of im
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generallyare reluctant to activate
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abandon” claims Osborough (1982:2
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The activation of the sentence is n
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normal way, allow you leniency, I w
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court had made no mention at the se
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Criminal Appeal, which were the cou
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Thus, the limited statutory review
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The bipolar arrangements of the cou
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specified period. For example, the
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It is worth noting that these sente
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mayfeel at libertyto continue with
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the court if the convicted person f
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maintain progress on a treatment pr
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himself/herself bound over for a lo
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of the District Court to enforce a
Page 305 and 306:
Thus, the utility of suspending the
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other words, a suspended sentence o
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The net point is this - if the oper
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is kept, there is a complete discha
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nature such as conditions prohibiti
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“I think that if the condition is
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Thus it may be observed that the Di
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custodyas a primaryaim of the sente
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Whatever conclusions can be drawn f
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(v) The role of consent. In the cla
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sentence. Thus, the degree to which
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ate of suspended sentences to be 35
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category of offence was not provide
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of a breach of a condition. This is
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“Such a hearing should have been
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juryin the present case. He did not
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“… the only matters which this
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driving or public order and I would
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put forward this argument in his ap
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egime instead. Interestingly, in th
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And “Provision may be made by pri
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(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997
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accused has served his/her custodia
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the Minister for Justice to exercis
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suspended sentence although it has
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(vi) Activation of sentence the piv
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In the Circuit Criminal Court and t
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sanctions have followed. This is bo
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CHAPTER 7 THE SUSPENDED SENTENCE PU
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It will also be demonstrated how th
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of the pre-existing power to suspen
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The Criminal Justice (Public Order)
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In terms of regulating the criminal
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suspended sentences in a statutory
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developed for the enforcement of a
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On a literal interpretation, the Oi
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enjoyed and practiced up to now. In
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portion of a part-suspended sentenc
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This control mechanism is construct
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sentence under Section 99(1) constr
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Although Section 50 (2) seeks to li
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As noted, the procedure under Secti
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CONDITIONS Besides the time element
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Generallyspeaking, the Legislature
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Besides placing the suspended sente
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ehaviour was clearly settled in the
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these agencies. But perhaps the mos
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Imposition of Fine and Deferment of
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courts, this may be too restrictive
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for a minor infraction of not keepi
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acquire certain dynamic characteris
Page 407 and 408:
on this issue. Strictly speaking on
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instead of a custodial sentence. A
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is a feature of the sanction, place
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applications to revoke the suspende
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evocation of the sentence which is
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There remains a significant deficit
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APPENDIX A The questions below were
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11. We spoke about the CommunitySer
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS B
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Foucault, M. (1975) (Translation Al
Page 427 and 428:
McWilliams, W. and Pease, K. (1980)
Page 429 and 430:
Ryan, L. (1990) Irish Emigration to
Page 431 and 432:
Davies, M. (1974), Social Enquiry f
Page 433 and 434:
Roberts, J. (2003), Evaluating the
Page 435 and 436:
Expert Group on the Codification of
Page 437 and 438:
Report into the Case of Philip Shee
Page 439 and 440:
Young, W. (1978) Community Service
Page 441 and 442:
People (DPP) -v - Aylmer [1995] 2 I
Page 443:
Criminal Law(Amendment) Act 1977 (E
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