Is Ireland's criminal justice system a joke?

"From where I live" in L.A. County most cases of violent crime don't even get charged to where the perpetrator ever sees a judge. So Ireland looks less humorous from this vantage point. 

The US are an extremely harsh 'lock um up and throw away the key' society......... that is not how the criminal justice system works in modern societies elsewhere, so when people are sentenced, sentencing is more about reforming, educating and changing behaviour and many convicted criminals don't have to be put in prison for that and in many cases they could end up in prison with other criminals and just get a criminal  apprentiship making them worse than they were before.... I don't think your friends know much about policing practice or the gardia.... they investigate and send findings to the DPP to make a decision about if they have enough evidence to move forward take to court and prosecute, if so the gardia charge and it goes to court.... the gardia do not have a choice about doing their job or not......although I can see gardia being disappointed in what sentencing is being given after the amount of work they have done

We use incarceration as a last resort because imprisoning someone exposes them to far more serious criminals and makes getting an honest job afterwards almost impossible.  If you imprison people too readily you also decrease its value as a deterrent.   The combination of community service and a suspended sentence is a good carrot/stick combo. 

The problem with sex crimes in particular is that they can be hard to prove.  Easy when it is a violent attack by a complete stranger but when the parties are known to one another and there are no witnesses, it can be hard to convict.  Remember that a Common Law conviction does not mean 'on the balance of probabilities', it means 'beyond reasonable doubt'.  If you feel Ireland to be unsafe, try spending time in the Congo.