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CONCLUSION
This study was undertaken to advance the state of knowledge on the role of the
community service order and the suspended sentence in Irish sentencing. Both sanctions
are presented in their formal sense as alternatives to the custodial sentence. This unique
relationship with the custodial sentence places the two sanctions in a place apart from all
other non-custodial sentences such as fines and probation. In policy terms, both sanctions
should only be used where a real custodial sentence is actually contemplated before the
court might then decide to apply either sanction as an alternative to such custodial
sentence. And yet in practice the two sanctions maytake on quite different personae in the
crucible of the sentencing court.
O’Malley (2006), Osborough (1981) and Walsh (2002) have written extensively on the law
and practice of sentencing in Ireland while O’Mahony (1997) and others have identified a
number of issues from a sociological perspective relating to crime and prisoners. However,
little if anything is known about sentencing fromthe judge’s perspective andin particular in
relation to the imposition of communityservice and the suspended sentence.
Prior to the study it was not possible to state what was the role of the community service
order or the suspended sentence in Irish sentencing except by reference only to statutory
provisions or case law. The attempt to go “behind the veil” by interviewing the primary
actors, namely the sentencers themselves, in an non-courtroom setting, allowed for the
emergence of perspectives on the sanctions which may not otherwise have been revealed.
Moreover, at certain points in the analysis a clear disconnection may be observed between
the stated purpose of the individual sanction and the actual use made of it bythe individual
sentencers. Can this be explained by idiosyncratic practices by some of the judges or are
there more fundamental factors at playto bringabout andsustain such divergence?
An examination of the role of the communityservice order and the suspended sentence in
Irish sentencing practice necessitated a wide array of methodologies both qualitative and
quantitative to allow for the emergence of understandings of the sanctions. The uses of
such sanctions may even be observed to change over time. This presents specific
difficulties of interpretation for the researcher where either sanction under discussion may
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