From Punishment to Prevention: Poverty, Inequality and Pathways into the Irish Criminal Justice System

By Clare O’Connor,.et al

In 2012, IPRT published The Vicious Circle of Social Exclusion and Crime: Ireland’s Disproportionate Punishment of the Poor1 setting out how poverty and social exclusion shape exposure to criminalisation, and the case for early intervention and social investment as prevention. In the years since, the effects of austerityera policies have become increasingly visible, particularly in housing, social protection and criminal justice. Ireland faces a deepening housing crisis and cost of living crisis, alongside record levels of prison overcrowding. This report provides an updated evidence base on the overlap between poverty, deprivation and criminalisation in Ireland, examines justice reinvestment approaches, outlines relevant human rights obligations, and identifies evidence-led alternatives to over-reliance on penal sanctions