Irish Policy on Youth crime

In February 2014, the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs published ‘Tackling Youth Crime: Youth Justice Action Plan 2014-2018'. The Plan focuses on young people who require targeted, strategic attention because their behaviour has led to their involvement in the youth justice system. The Action Plan builds on the work already done in this area, having a focus on strengthening and developing performance through evidence based policies. The emphasis of the Action Plan is on changing behaviour through the implementation of evidence-informed targeted interventions to achieve better outcomes for young people who get into trouble with the law, or who are at risk of getting into trouble with the law.  The plan seeks to continue the downward trends in high volume crime involving young persons; minimise the use of detention; improve our understanding of the reasons for more serious crime offending patterns; identify strategies to address these patterns; and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions aimed at addressing the behaviour and needs of these children.

An inter-agency/department implementation team, which is comprised of senior officials from all the key government departments and agencies involved in the youth justice area, is overseeing implementation of the Action Plan.

The Department of Justice and Equality are currently developing a new Youth Justice Strategy which is due to be released for public consultation in 2020

A copy of the ‘Tackling Youth Crime: Youth Justice Action Plan 2014 - 2018 and further information on the Irish Youth Justice Service can be found at www.iyjs.ie (link is external).

Contact details:
Department of Justice and Equality,
51 St Stephen’s Green,
Dublin 2,
D02 HK52
Telephone: 01 602 8202
Email: yjs@justice.ie