Most convicted of child pornography offences in District Court avoid jail
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Less than 15 per cent of people convicted in the District Court of possessing child pornography receive a prison sentence, according to figures released to and published by The Irish Times.
Figures released under a Freedom of Information request show that just 26 of 174 cases (15 per cent) finalised before the District Court between 2002–2017 resulted in a prison sentence.
The District Court, where the maximum prison sentence available to judges is one year, only deals with less serious child pornography cases, while the majority of cases (73 per cent) are dealt with in the Circuit Court, where the maximum prison sentence is five years.
In the 15-year period covered by the figures, 44 cases (25 per cent) in the District Court were struck out due to prosecution failures.
As well as 26 people handed prison sentences, there were 26 people given a peace bond, 26 people fined, 24 people given probation, and 21 people given fully-suspended prison sentences.
Two people avoided punishment by making a payment to the poor box.
Just five people were acquitted of the offence during the period.
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