Inside Ireland’s Juvenile Crime System

Thousands of adolescents go before under-age courts in this country every year. In this exclusive dispatch, we report from the frontline of the criminal justice system as it applies to teenagers.

Jason O'Toole, 21 Nov 2007

A staggering 17,000 teenagers are arrested on average each year – with up to 2,000 of these cases being brought before children’s courts in Ireland, according to the latest statistics available. The majority of these cases are heard at the Smithfield Children’s Court, which is officially known as ‘District Court 55’. Every day, a large crowd of youths, wearing the latest tracksuits, can be found gathering outside the court, swapping war stories and smoking endless amounts of

cigarettes, while waiting for somebody inside who is about to face the music for their crimes.

They seem to treat it all as a bit of a laugh, watching up to 20 or 30 youths coming and going from squad cars and prison vans as they file past into the court. Some of them can be heard shouting, ‘Wha’ you up for this time, Joe? Did ya get caught joyriding again?”

“No – it’s for GBH,” comes the reply.

Inside, it is not like your typical courthouse. Even the judge doesn't wear formal garb. The tiny court, which is not much bigger than a 12ft x 11ft bedroom, is steadily filling up with that day’s cases. There is a second, adjacent courtroom, which is only called into action when there is a major backlog. The only other room is a filthy toilet – equipped with ‘blue lights’ to prevent drugs activity.

The majority of the crimes coming before this court are either petty theft, alcohol-related or motoring offences, but there has been an increase of murders and rapes committed by under 18s. There have been two murder cases this year at the Smithfield court. Also, a 16-year-old boy was convicted for his first offence – a random and brutal rape attack on a woman in Dublin’s south inner city.

For the past six years, Tom Tuite, the author of a best-selling book Minor Offences, has been covering the children’s court in Dublin on a full-time basis. It is a difficult and disillusioning beat to cover. There are obvious issues: Tuite points out that it is not unusual for an offender, who is out on bail, to reappear before the court with several more charges while the verdict is still pending on the original case. Interestingly, he has noticed a trend amongst defendants who have accumulated a series of charge sheets to suddenly plead guilty when confronted with certain judges. “It’s no secret that all judges are different and some are ‘softer’ than others. So naturally defendants will plead guilty before the judges they perceive to be softer, in the expectation of getting a more lenient sentence,” he comments.

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