Diverging or Emerging from Law? The Practice of Youth Justice in Ireland
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225414549692 |
| Published date | 01 December 2014 |
| Date | 01 December 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Youth Justice
2014, Vol. 14(3) 212 –225
© The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/1473225414549692
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Diverging or Emerging from
Law? The Practice of Youth
Justice in Ireland
Ursula Kilkelly
Abstract
The Children Act 2001 is the statutory framework for youth justice in Ireland. Fully in force since 2007,
aspects of the Act appear to be unimplemented while in other areas practice has diverged from the Act’s
provisions. Three areas are used to show where youth justice practice has diverged from the legislation:
the operation of the Children Court; the use of community sanctions and the use of family conferences
and restorative justice. This article studies the disconnect between the law and practice in these three
areas, offers some explanation as to why it has occurred and proposes some solutions for how it might be
addressed.
Keywords
court, divergence, family conference, law, practice, restorative justice
Introduction
The Irish youth justice system has been underpinned by a detailed and modern statutory
framework since the enactment of the Children Act in 2001. The law provides for how
children who come into conflict with the law are to be treated and places on a statutory
basis diversionary mechanisms like the Garda (police) diversion programme and proba-
tion-led family conferencing. It makes provision for a dedicated court − the Children
Court − which hears all minor charges against children and introduces a wide range of
community-based sanctions that aim to ensure that the court response to children’s offend-
ing is tailored to children’s circumstances. Although parts of the Act were amended in
2006, the 2001 Act has not been amended since the remainder of its provisions were
brought into force in 2007.
When the 2001 Act was enacted, it replaced a piece of legislation that was almost 100
years old (Walsh, 2005). Reform of the law was long awaited and it had been proposed
Corresponding author:
Ursula Kilkelly, School of Law, University College, Cork, Ireland.
Email: u.kilkelly@ucc.ie
549692YJJ0010.1177/1473225414549692Youth JusticeKilkelly
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