Paul Williams on juvenile joyriders and the justice crisis

In all his years covering crime, Paul Williams says he has rarely, if ever, seen a public reaction to a story like this one.

The horrific crash on the M9, involving a car carrying a group of teenage joyriders travelling the wrong way down the motorway, has provoked an extraordinary level of anger. It seems to have tapped into something deeper too - a growing frustration about repeat offenders, the safety of ordinary people going about their lives, and a feeling that something in the system simply isn’t working.

So I asked Paul Williams, Special Correspondent with the Irish Independent, to come in and talk me through what happened and why this particular story has struck such a nerve.

We discuss who these young offenders are, why they appear to feel untouchable, the role social media plays in encouraging increasingly reckless behaviour, and what can realistically be done about it. We also get into Garda resources and pursuit training, deterrence versus rehabilitation, and Paul’s argument that Ireland urgently needs a juvenile justice system that is actually fit for purpose.

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