People with mental health and addiction issues to be diverted from criminal justice system

The report and recommendations of the high level taskforce established in 2021 to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of people who come into contact with the criminal justice sector were published on Friday.

Its recommendations include an expansion of the adult caution scheme as a diversion from prosecution, including in cases of drug possession for personal use, as well as a “greater focus” on deciding against prosecutions on public interest grounds.

Overall, the taskforce has put forward 61 recommendations which emphasise the shared responsibility of a number of government departments and agencies to deliver on meeting the needs of those with mental health and addiction challenges who come into contact with the criminal justice system.

Welcoming the report, justice minister Helen McEntee said: “We know that many of those who end up engaging with our criminal justice system have higher rates of mental health and addiction challenges than the rest of the population. This is not a coincidence. If we are to address the root causes of offending behaviours, we have to start here.

“If we are to reduce the numbers who end up in a cycle of offending behaviour and if we are to create stronger and safer communities and reduce crime, we have to work together and deliver properly resourced, appropriately located systems of care.

“This is not something that one department or agency can do alone. A collaborative approach has underpinned the work of the taskforce who have agreed a coherent range of ambitious, but realistic, time-lined actions to build and sustain progress.”

The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) also welcomed the report, while warning that it would require additional resources to be implemented in full.

Saoire Brady, executive director of IPRT, said: “From public opinion polling that IPRT commissioned over a decade ago, we know that the vast majority of the Irish public believe that mentally ill people who commit an offence should be treated in a mental health facility instead of being sent to prison and that those with an addiction issue should receive appropriate treatment.

“The implementation of this report would mean that policy-making will finally have caught up with this important perspective.”

She added: “However, given that the report and recommendations are being published in the same week as Budget 2023, we are concerned that all the recommendations, particularly those that will clearly require further funding, have not been costed.

“While we know that change will not happen overnight, we feel this is a missed opportunity and without a clear sense of what resources are needed and available, we are a long way off full implementation of these welcome proposals.

“There is an explicit intention to track the outcomes of the implementation of the taskforce’s recommendations – with a specific reference on social inclusion/marginalised groups – but it must take into account resource allocation.”