Mandatory sentencing guidelines have “no value” and should not be introduced, the Irish Penal Reform Trust has said. 

Earlier this week, a teenager was spared jail after helping someone pour boiling water over a woman. 

The judge’s decision has sparked debate on the justice system’s sentencing guidelines and whether certain crimes should automatically mean time behind bars. 

This morning, the Irish Penal Reform Trust said the introduction of mandatory sentencing would be a mistake. 

“With that comes the potential for injustice,” Acting Executive Director Molly Joyce told Newstalk Breakfast.

“Essentially, it removes the ability and the discretion of a judge to take into account the individual circumstances of an offence and the individual circumstances of the person who has been convicted of that offence.” 

Loughan House open prison. Image: Radharc Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Mandatory sentencing is common in many jurisdictions and is in place for certain drugs offences in Ireland. 

Critics, however, warn that it does not reduce crime.

“There is little to no evidence that mandatory sentencing actually acts as a deterrent to people committing crime or to people re-committing crime in the future,” Ms Joyce said. 

“Therefore, there’s no value, potentially, to actually introducing those sentences.” 

'Serious crime'

Ms Joyce said that while “serious crime needs a serious response”, increasing the prison population is not desirable. 

“It could lead to sentence inflation - which means that more people are getting harsher sentences,” she said. 

“[That] increases the numbers in our prisons at great expense to the State and is particularly concerning at the moment when we know our prisons are already overcrowded at the moment.” 

Pictured Mount Joy Prison in Dublin. Photo: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland

Ms Joyce added that the concern among some members of the public that the justice system is ‘soft’ is driven by media reporting that focuses on individual cases. 

“That perception arises in circumstances where we don’t have robust information or data available on sentencing practice in Ireland across all of the courts,” she said. 

“All we have is ad hoc media reports relating to specific cases and that is something that is being addressed to be fair by the Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee.” 

In 2019, Ireland had 81.7 prisoners for every 100,000 inhabitants - below the EU average of 111.2. 

Main image: A man in prison.