Community or Custody? 

2 May 2025

Seminar hosted by the ISS21 Crime and Social Harm Research Cluster.

Seminar Overview

In 1983, Ireland introduced the Community Service Order (CSO), a sentence of unpaid work in the community. The CSO was intended to act as a direct alternative to custody, thereby reducing overreliance on the use of imprisonment. However, despite various legislative changes and policy initiatives in the intervening years to promote greater use of CSOs there has been variable uptake amongst sentencers. At the same time the numbers of people being sentenced to short-term prison sentences continues to rise.

This seminar reported on research commissioned by the Department of Justice and conducted by Dr Niamh Maguire and Professor Nicola Carr, which explores this phenomenon. This research involved literature and policy analysis as well as interviews with judges to explore the reasons for the continued over-use of short prison sentences and the underutilisation of CSOs.  The findings shed light on some of the barriers impacting the underuse of community sentences as well as judicial rationales for imposing prison sentences.  

The presentation of research findings was followed by a a presentation from Gerry McNally focusing on the origins, evolution and benefits of Community Service in communities, embedding the principles of desistance, restorative justice and social justice in Community Service practice. 

Report Available here: Maguire, N. & Carr, N. (2024) Community or Custody? A Review of Evidence and Sentencers’ Perspectives on Community Service Orders and Short-Term Prison Sentences. Dublin: Department of Justice.   

Presenters' Biographies 

• Dr Niamh Maguire is a Senior Lecturer in Law in South Eastern Technological University. Her areas of research include punishment, sentencing, community sanctions, comparative criminal justice systems, gender and domestic violence. 
• Professor Nicola Carr is Chair of Social Work and Social Policy in Trinity College Dublin and Adjunct Professor in Criminology in University College Cork. Her main areas of research include crime and punishment, community sanctions and measures and youth justice.  
• Gerry McNally is Adjunct Professor in Criminology in University College Cork. He retired as Assistant Director of the Irish Probation Service in 2024 after 45 years of service and has published widely on probation related themes. 

The seminar was chaired by Dr. James Windle, Department of Sociology and Criminology, UCC and Convenor of the ISS21 Crime and Social Harm (CSH) Research Cluster