View/Open - CORA - University College Cork

There remains a significant deficit of information on the rehabilitative effect, if any, of
both community service and the suspended sentence in Ireland. Further research needs to
be undertaken in this area to test the assumption that rehabilitation is the ideal to be served
andthat it works.
It has been possible however to identify from the research a number of features of the
sanctions which if addressed may assist in the enhancement and efficacy of each sanction.
These include the elevation of consent by the offender to be bound by either sanction,
where first the offender is given a clear understanding of what the sanction means and
what is required to ensure compliance, and secondly the internalisation of the sanction as
fair bythe offender. Thus better outcomes for both sanctions maybe expected if the court
itself fully explains and engages with the offender when the sentence is given. It is also
recommended that the part-suspended sentence could be more usefully deployed in the
case of drug and sex offenders if conditions as to treatment were imposed for the custodial
part of the sentence as a condition to the suspension of the latter part of the sentence. In
this way the therapeutic input could be commenced at an early stage in the rehabilitation
process.
The interdependent nature of the administration of sentences such as community service
orders and the suspended sentence requires inputs from a number of agencies. The judges
are not fully confident that a suspended sentence or a community service order will be re-
entered by the relevant agency such as the Prosecution or the Probation Service.
Ownership of the sanction is seen to pass from the court to the enforcement agency but
the courts have evinced a reluctance to relinquish the control of the sanction until theycan
be assured that the sentences will be appropriately monitored. Likewise Halton (2006) has
identified distrust by probation officers of the judges in her research. Perhaps a frank
exchange between the various actors in the sentencing process on these issues would allow
a more optimal use of these sanctions.
408