What would you do to reduce crime in Ireland?

freshpopcorn

I'd start this thread by asking people not to bring up any cases before the courts because it will get the thread closed.

I know a lot of this would require a lot of money, etc.

I'd have more Gardai on the streets.

Gardai would be better paid.

Gardai would have body cams that would record a lot of interactions.

Body cam footage would sometimes be shared with the public.(Mainly to show what Sharon's little angel did from the start).

When kids/teenagers first come into contact with Gardai, social workers would be involved , school attendance monitored, etc If certains conditions aren't met parents would be fined. (Parents would be driven mad from annoying social workers.)

Regarding school I'd like to see the access to more vocational subjects to encourage people to stay in school.

Obviously harsher prison sentences for repeat offenders, less access to free legal aid.

More powers for CAB to seize assets.

What would you do to reduce crime in Ireland?

Just a general list(I know).

Personally, I suppose I could commit far less crimes myself but a man must have his hobbies.

Tow

3 strikes and your out, which is a forgotten FF policy.

New prisons to house the repeat offenders.

lawrencesummers

compulsory maximum sentencing without remission / parole for offenders with 3 previous convictions.

No bail for crimes against women by men.

Constant review of judges sentencing to ensure consistency.

Hellrazer

1. More garda and better paid, body cameras, and better armed - give all them tasers and pepper spray. Give them immunity from prosecution up to a point.
2. No more concurrent sentences - all consecutive.
3. 3 /5/7 strikes and you get a harsher sentence - No more scum walking around with hundreds of convictions.
4. Build a huge prison on one of our off shore Islands thats uninhabited and put the repeat offenders out there.
5. Mandatory minimum sentencing for specific crimes for example 10 years for assault,carrying an offensive weapon 10 years etc. Takes the whole leniency thing out of certain judges hands.
6. In the case of teenagers - try all them over the age of 12 in adult court.And name them. The shame to a family could be enough for the parents to actually start controlling their kids.
7. Related to number 6 - take the parents dole away to pay court fees, damages to third party etc.
8. Public order - all garda districts to have a water cannon. Disperse these gangs of teens very quickly. Once their fake Canada goose jacket and grey tracksuit bottoms gets soaked they might think twice next time

beertons

I'd scrap good behaviour.

If they were good in the beginning, they wouldn't be in jail.

ancapailldorcha

I'm not an expert but it would be nice to look at other countries and evidence as a basis for policy-making instead of just increasing sentences.

Having said that, I think having more Gardaí on the street would be a significant improvement for starters. It would make people feel safer, improve their access to Gardaí in the event of something happening and hopefully act as something of a deterrent.

rossie1977

ED-209 on every corner

Juran

Adopt the Singapore model .. Lashings, and plenty of it.

I visited Singapore last year..our local tour was explaining how there is very little crime due to the punishment of tough prison and lashings, and zero tolerance approach. Not even a discarded chewing gum to be seen on the streets.

I'd be first to apply for the Lashing Master job :)

Quitelife

Every politician that calls to our doors should be lobbied about crime for elections in the coming 18 months be it Council or Dail elections . Lot of talk about Dublin City but it’s as bad in limerick city or county limerick where travellers gangs control towns and villages .

these people control wheather we get more guards or more importantly get more prisons built in this country . We have the same if not less prisons as 30 years ago and crime is gone through the roof . Unless you kill someone it’s unlikely you’ll get jail time in Ireland .

MarkR

A cohort of the current generation of feral teens are irredeemable. Really only the judicial system can deal with them. Education and supports are important for the younger kids who we can have some hope for. If the only way a kid sees he's going to drive a fancy car and have a nice house is to sell drugs, they'll sell drugs. For quick cash they'll rob people. There has to be a doable path forward for them. No point in saying study hard and you'll be grand, if they still can't get into college. I'd like to see way more emphasis on trade schools. They're crying out for mechanics in garages and the NCT. Any tradesman I see is always flat out. Even the local guys who do "unskilled" garden work are minted.

thomil

Oh, boy, now you started something! Let's kick off with the punitive measures:

• Mandatory minimum sentences for a whole host of offences, including any type of assault, vandalism, coercion, incitement to violence, as well as any type of corruption in public office (sounds weird, but all types of crime should be considered). Exception: juveniles & first offenders, for whom monitored release & mandatory relocation will apply.
• Introduction of "security detention" for offenders who are deemed to be a risk to others even after completing their sentence. This will allow such individuals to remain in detention even after serving their sentence, subject to regular reviews.
• No more than 30% of any sentence can be suspended, unless truly exceptional circumstances can be proven.
• Forced relocation for first offenders to areas where they are removed from their regular environment for the duration of their sentence/probation period. Aim is to break first offenders out of their vicious cycle before they really go off the rails.
• Movements & internet/comms activity of anyone sentenced & on a suspended sentence is strictly monitored. Unannounced spot checks by gardaí & social workers to ensure that convicts are adhering to conditions.
• Scrapping of any type of alternative sanctions for minors - You do the crime, you'll end up in court.
• Significant increase in the number of prisons, but keep them small and dispersed. That way, any disturbances are easier to control. Building of "security detention" wings on all prisons
• Increase in the number of youth detention centers.
• Better pay for gardaí
• Increase in legal protections for gardaí who have to resort to use of force, including lethal force.
• Increase in # of armed gardaí, issue of body cams, CS gas and tasers to all unarmed gardaí.
• Increase in funding for community policing initiatives.

Now for the other side of the coin, as punitive measures will only go so far.

• Increase # of social workers, provide enhanced legal scope for them to head off problems before they arise.
• Provision of after-school activities. youth centers and other "third spaces" that are NOT related to religious organizations, GAA or other sports (primarily aimed at younger demographics obviously)
• Provision of safe injection centers as well as massive increase in funding for addiction therapy centers
• Decriminalization of the entire marijuana cycle (production, distribution, possession, consumption)
• Decriminalization of possession of hard drugs for personal use (production & distribution to remain illegal)
• Increased investment in rehabilitation & training measures for prison inmates. Involvement of social workers at every stage of the process
• Provision of re-integration grants for companies to incentivize hiring of offenders out on a suspended sentence or who have finished their sentence.
• Re-integration measures to start well in advance of release date to ensure a smooth transition once and reduce the risk of a recently released offender to fall "into a hole" and back into their old routines.
• Increase in vocational training options at school, as mentioned by others.

There are probably other measures that are possible, but these are the ones that immediately spring to mind.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058306378/what-would-you-do-to-reduce-crime-in-ireland

I would run a zero tolerance state with mandatory consequences for each law that's broken.

There should be no grey areas when it comes to the law.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120894449#Comment_120894449

Chewing gum is banned in Singapore

I see sheep

Higher tax for rich people & companies and use the money for education.

FGR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120894916#Comment_120894916

Something that should be done here, too.

Sleepy

Make abortion easier to access and more socially acceptable. Roe v Wade did wonders for NYC.

Hire more social workers with improved pay and conditions - it's a miserable job and retention has been a problem for decades. Work with social workers to reduce the barriers our current legal system creates for them (e.g. make it easier for them to re-home children at risk etc.)

Hire more Gardaí (and more civilians to handle administration - it's a waste of Garda time to have them handling passport applications) and invest heavily in tech to facilitate their work (i.e. reduce Garda time spent on admin and increase their time on the street / investigating crime).

Link childrens allowance (and supplemental welfare payments for having children) to school attendence (with some leeway for principals to intercede for genuine cases e.g. medical conditions etc.)

Invest heavily in education of all levels.

Legalise marijuana completely - ring fence tax revenue generated by this for education.

Link sentencing to past record - first offence? You do the time /pay the fine you're sentenced to. For each crime you've previously been convicted of, a multiplier is added after sentencing e.g. 2nd crime you get a 10% loading on your sentence, 3rd 20%, 4th 30%, etc.

The last is one I've no idea how to implement but the promotion of positive role models to kids. Sports stars, X Factor contestants and Social Media Influencers make terrible role models. Their success is the result of good fortune: kids need role-models that demonstrate success on the basis of hard work, patience and practice i.e. successful role-models they can emulate rather than simply day-dream about waking up and being. A kid can train as hard as he/she likes but if they don't have the inate talent and the luck to avoid serious injury they're on a path to misery. A kid who sees that their uncle who's a plumber drives a nice Tesla, however, can achieve that goal themselves.

artanevilla

I would make committing a criminal offence illegal.

wpd

make a 2nd police force from the defence forces and deploy them on the streets

Peregrinus

Experience in other countries suggests that increasing the severity of punishment is usually the least effective way of trying to reduce crime rights. Imprisonment is phenomenally expensive, and many crimes are committed on impulse, and/or by people with poor risk assessment capabilities. Tl;dr: prisons are full of people who make poor judgments, and who are uninfluenced by factors that are not immediate.

Whatever resources you are going to devote to this will generally show better results if you devote them not to more prison services but to better police services, both in preventing crimes (e.g. more police patrols, better intelligence) and in detecting them and securing convictions (better investigative capacity). A higher chance of being arrested and convicted is a more immediate disincentive than the prospect of a longer sentence, apparently.

But the resources may yield better results again if they are devoted to addressing the factors that give rise to crime. Some factors are more easily addressed than others, obviously, but some would be politically controversial (e.g. drug law liberalisation) and some are not police matters at all (crime rates are reduced by improved employment prospects and better educational outcomes).

yourdeadwright

City police force like in Barcelona & the likes ,

Let the Garda do there stuff & concentrate on organised crime & so on the City police keep the Cities under control & safe ,

NewbridgeIR

1/ Discourage people from socialising in Dublin city centre.

2/ Raise taxes to build more prisons.

3/ Prison admittance age to be lowered to 12.

4/ Remove anonymity for under 18s.

5/ Increase sentence length but there should no jail time for retaliation or self defence.

6/ Turn a blind eye to vigilantes.

nachouser

I looked up some figures on this the other day. As of Dec 2022, there were approx 4400 people imprisoned. This is pretty much capacity - way over in some prisons.

It's said to cost approx 80k per person per year. That's approx 350m per year already.

Obviously, newer prisons could be built more efficiently but it's a fair chunk of change if we want to ramp up the numbers behind bars.

I guess this is part of the reason lads are walking around with dozens of convictions, nowhere to currently put them.

SuperBowserWorld

Ripley

raspberrypi67

I'd give them Guns. But then again they'd probably shoot themselves in the foot...so maybe not...hmmmm

Hooked

Vigilantes and zero tolerance. Everywhere!

Teens hanging around local chippers acting anti-social, abusing decent business people and customers? Kick em up and down the road.

Been caught beating up an American tourist, and putting them in hospital? Broken legs. Broken arms. An eye for an eye.

Raped or killed someone? Shot dead.

Prisons are full and frankly too good for most of the cnüts in them. Law is an ass. No one is afraid to break the law anymore!

Fox Tail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120894964#Comment_120894964

This is a good point.

What do the defense forces do outside of training? Why not have them on a rota to support the Guards. We are already paying for them.

Even without powers of arrest they would be a detterent on the streets and could call in Guards after they had restrained criminals they see breaking the law.

Its also another set of eyes on the streets, so crime detection would improve hugely.

The biggest fix is always going to be more prison space and juvenile detention centres, so the judges can actually impose sentences when they are deserved, rather than only sentencing jail time when they have absolutley no choice.

We also need to start enforcing breaches of the law.

If someone is drinking cans on the street or taking drugs in the street, or selling drugs on the street, arrest them and fine them.

We condone the small things which leads to the bigger crimes occuring.

We seemed to have embraced a society in which low level anti social behaviour and open drug dealing & drug/alcohol abuse is just perfectly acceptable.

BrianBoru00

MONEY MONEY MONEY.

I would change the constitution if needs be and introduce draconian fines for ALL non violent crime.

Fines amount based on your earnings and/or net worth. So a scrounger on the dole pisses in the street- €100 fine.

A TD does the same thing €1500 fine.

And remove AT SOURCE - Take direct from social welfare or revenue. Seize assets if needed either.

FREE LEGAL AID - 100% free to anyone . . . . . for their first use of the service. . .

If guilty the next time is at 50%, again the balance collected at source. and the third and final time - 25%.

Make it compulsory to have a solicitor for more serious crime and oayment to be made by the suspect as above.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Daily reports of people up in courts with 100+ previous convictions getting let off with a slap on the wrist. It's a top town thing, if judges aren't willing to punish these type of people then why would Gardai persue them, why then would anyone report them?

Three strikes should be a mandatory sentance. When released you get one more chance, if you fail that then it should be life.

Agent Coulson

Put an end to concurrent sentencing!

The criminal doesn't get to serve their sentences at the same time they serve the sentence for each crime back to back.

Concurrent sentencing only benefits the criminal.

silliussoddius

Chain gangs. Have the feral scum pull shopping trolleys and other rubbish out of canals and rivers.

Padre_Pio

Funny that the USA, which incarcerates more people than anywhere and has MANY of the punitive measures people are calling for, is also a complete basket case of crime.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120894388#Comment_120894388

I always thought the same. The way its done is if you are well behaved in prison you get time off your sentence. The way it should work is, if you behave in prison you get better food and perks in prison, no time off the sentence.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120895206#Comment_120895206

i'm a little bit of a lefty liberal, have always wondered what reason there is that chain gangs (for prisoners who aren't going to be a flight risk or a danger) are not used. probably legislation around anti-competitive measures!

Fox Tail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120895219#Comment_120895219

No social welfare in the US.

People have to steal to eat etc as there is no safety net if you arent earning and a lot of americans live pay check to pay check.

The risk of starving to death in ireland is almost zero if you are in the system and claiming benefits & social housing.

I am quite sure if the US had our social welfare and retained its current crime approach, crime would be much much lower there.

It is also true that a huge amount of americans arent educated at all. They are third world in that respect and of course there is a knock on to criminality as a result.

Banning guns would of course also make a huge difference, but neither a gun ban nor the introduction of mass social welfare will ever happen in the US and it will always remain the "land of plenty", only for those that have plenty.

Strumms

This was an idea floated by a political party before but it never happened, it’s a good one…

Id build a massive fûck off purpose built modern prison, in a quiet rural part of Leinster…three to four times the size of the joy. As needed…

the joy and associated land would make an absolute killing being sold to developers for apartments and or shopping / leisure district making the purchasing of land and building of the prison not that much of a burden on taxpayers. If a burden at all…

I’d change the constitution…. Or invite the public to change it which they would…..to enable judges performance and ability to be monitored, and that they could be disciplined, terminated etc if they dish out inordinately lenient or harsh sentences regularly…judicial oversight committee or whatever.

Seriously violent crime = jail, regardless of criminal history…

dealing, transporting or facilitating the manufacture or storage of drugs = custodial sentence

in possession of a knife or other weapon such as gun, machete etc = custodial sentence

overall, three minor crimes = custodial sentence…. Three minor crimes , some degree of prison time.

thomil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120895488#Comment_120895488

I like some of those ideas, but especially that judicial oversight body. I'd just add that any type of extreme sentence should be subject to review, not just the lenient ones. A fifteen-year sentence for a crime that only warrants a one-year sentence can do just as much damage as letting someone go on a suspended sentence, and there should be a discouragement against judges playing themselves up as tough guys for any future political ambitions.

I do have one question with regards to your approach to drugs. Would possession for personal use and said personal use in itself be punishable as well, or would you legalize that and shift focus solely on the manufacturers and dealers?

nachouser

Prisons & numbers as of today.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120895219#Comment_120895219

Well you don’t need to wonder why, they have annually tens of thousands of cases of gun crime, murders and shootings in the main because you can obtain guns so easily. Also over 10% of the entire population are considered to live in poverty.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120895353#Comment_120895353

I don't attack anyone, here's a thought, don't be so sensitive. Chewing gum (not medicated) is not sold in Singapore.

Fox Tail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120895540#Comment_120895540

106% prison capacity is possibly a reason for the soft sentencing?

We are oversubscribed and have no prison spaces left.

Are sentences more leniant because the judiciary knows there are no spaces left in prison?

In the last 20 years, the population of ireland has grown by almost 30%.

Have our prison spaces grown by 30% during the same period?

Juran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120895635#Comment_120895635

Ah, now thats very different to being banned. As I said, you can bring in 1 small packet, and chew it at home, not in public areas.

Little Indian in Singapore has 99% indian immigrant workers, most newly arrived to work in construction. Its spotless. (I,ve visited India, rubbish bins are alien to them, country is full of discarded rubbish). I asked a local how comes the Indian immigrants keep the place so clean .. he replied, " after a couple of good lashes, they soon learn" ...

We need that here for flytippers !

Count Dracula

They should introduce a special Gardaí task force... call it the SPECIAL BRANCH.

They could drive around in unmarked cars only identifiable by smart assess who recognise that the retailer stickers have been removed and that there is a shortwave aerial transmitter waving out the roof of it.

Then they should recruit members of GAA clubs to those SPECIAL BRANCH units and tell them to set up a side lining moonlight scheme for scratching all their teammates from their speeding fines and then not appearing for their court cases when necessary. Bank handers only to be received from the boots of cars from parents of their kids schoolmates etc etc.

Should work i reckon.

Maybe set up a scheme, involving goosestepping deprived poor people, with learning difficulties, who come from broken homes and have generated drug addiction issues, compounded by mental health problems and acute self depreciative disorders.... towards the cliffs of Moher and telling them to jump over the edge, with the encouragement of compounded Uzi machine fire from one of the Special Branch cars? Any survivor's can be plucked from the sea, providing of course they can swim as far as the main Trá in Fanore, if they wind up in Liscannor or Doolin they should be drowned in a local slurry pit to save on Uzi bullets, it is obvious they weren't trying hard enough and should be exterminated.

Adhere to the ten commandments. They have worked for me so far.

Ban everything from everybody and make it up as you go along doing so?

Blame everyone and everything else on your own dystopic horizons?

Geuze

De-criminalise cannabis.

Once a criminal hits 10 convictions = automatic 1-year sentence, no exceptions.

Once a criminal hits 100 convictions = automatic 10-year sentence, no exceptions.

Parents to be responsible for children roaming the streets.

All prisoners to do either education or work daily.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120894385#Comment_120894385

I'd add in stop and search. Any young fella wearing North Face / Canada Goose on a Fiido bike to immediately be stopped by Gardai that encounter them, and search them.

Lewis_Benson

Need to go hardcore.

We're too soft on scumbags.

Hard labour.

Step out of line and you get a smack of a batton.

No more suspended sentences.

Repeat offenders get the privilege of working 14 hour days.

Guards to have more power to detain scumbags, human rights go out the window if you try to scrap with a guard who is trying to detain you.

breezy1985

I'm not naive enough to think we can "end crime" and I certainly don't think arming Gardai or shaming people works (because they are beyond shame). Taking dole and free legal aid will just lead to more crime.

Its never going to be gone from the council estate I live on either so all I ask is that I can at least have one area of peaceful haven. I shouldn't have to look at scobes, knackers or junkies running around roaring and screaming when having a coffee or pint in any of the main streets in my city or any other.

All that needs is more Garda to move people on. We can talk about them being short staffed or whatever but let's be honest themselves and the traffic wardens just couldn't be arsed going for a walk a lot of the time.

Singapore style caning.

Or a course of chemotherapy every other week for several months.

https://corpun.com/singfeat.htm

magicbastarder

Having talked to a couple of teachers I know, there is progress being made. One works in a school in a very deprived area, and he was saying that ten years ago, the attitude was 'you're not good at English or maths? Try harder' (which is a bit of a caricature to be fair), but now it's much more 'you're not good at English or maths? Let's find something you're good at', and he reckons he's seeing a difference in some of the kids.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120895929#Comment_120895929

Definitely better than years ago when students were called stupid in front of the class. God only knows what it was like if you were dyslexic.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058306378/what-would-you-do-to-reduce-crime-in-ireland

No children’s allowance after the fourth child , would reduce the population of a certain group who are predisposed to crime

on a related matter, set up a special division of AGS to deal with traveller crime