Proposed new laws on repeat burglars

Proposed new legislation to tackle repeat burglars and those who commit more burglaries while on bail has been published.
Minister for Justice and Equality Frances Fitzgerald today published the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill which was approved by Government.
The Minister said: “Burglary of a person’s home is very traumatic for the victim, is a serious offence and always has the danger to escalate into an offence against the person. It is the combination of the serious nature of the offence and the fact that burglars tend to be repeat offenders that warrants specific measures aimed at prolific burglars.”
The Minister stated: “This Bill is proportionate in that it is targeted at offenders with previous convictions who are charged with multiple offences of residential burglary. I am determined that those who invade and disrupt the lives of citizens in this way are dealt with robustly.”
A significant proportion of burglaries are carried out by repeat offenders. Targeting these repeat offenders has the potential to significantly reduce the harm being caused, the Department of Justice said.
Two issues which can be tackled by legislation have been identified. One relates to repeat offenders who continue to receive bail despite being arrested and charged for further burglaries multiple times while on bail. The other relates to the fact that relatively short sentences can be imposed when multiple burglary offences are taken into account.
The bill will provide that, for the purposes of bail applications, a previous conviction for domestic burglary coupled with two or more pending charges shall be evidence of a likelihood to commit further domestic burglaries.
This provision, while leaving the courts all necessary discretion to vindicate the constitutional rights of an accused person, would allow a court in the absence of evidence to the contrary to conclude that the accused is likely to commit a serious offence and could, therefore, refuse bail on that ground.
Secondly, the Bill will place a requirement on a court which decides to impose custodial sentences for multiple burglary offences to impose such sentences consecutively. The Bill will require that any sentence of imprisonment for a second domestic burglary must be consecutive to any sentence of imprisonment for any other domestic burglary committed in the six months prior to or after the second sentenced offence.

The General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill is available at http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB15000106