New Criminal Justice Bill further attack on civil liberties

By Madeleine Johansson

The new Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill passed by the Dail on the 10th July is another attack on civil liberties by the Fianna Fail/Green government.

The Bill, designed to crack down on gangland crime, was supported not only by the government parties but also by Fine Gael and a few independents (although not newly elected Maureen O’Sullivan). The new laws include the abolition of jury trials for certain offences, provision for secret hearings and the use of garda ‘opinion evidence’ regarding involvement in criminal gangs.

The proposal of the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern to transfer gangland trials to the non-jury Special Criminal Court where cases would be heard and tried without a jury is a severe attack on our civil rights. The right to trial by jury is written into the Irish Constitution, and lawyers opposed to the Bill claim that this could even be a case for the European Courts of Human Rights.

The new legislation also gives the right to conviction regarding involvement in criminal gangs based on opinion evidence by a garda of any rank. This means that someone could be convicted to a jail sentence without evidence-only an opinion!
In addition, secret hearings may be conducted when seeking an extension to detention. These hearings can be made in the absence of the detainee and without his/her lawyer or even a prosecution lawyer or a judge’s clerk.

These new laws look frighteningly like something from a dystopian police state. The government claims that the new legislation is needed for the protection of jurors and witnesses, while laws already exist concerning those issues. When a criminal gang is defined in the Bill as ‘a group of at least three people whose main purpose or activity is serious crime’ there is a huge danger of the legislation being used for other purposes than gangland crime. A letter of criticism of the Bill was written and signed by over 130 defence and prosecution lawyers voicing concern over the legislation and calling for the bill to be withdrawn.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties also accused Minister Dermot Ahern of abusing the Dail by pushing through the amendment in only two Dail sittings leaving no time for debate on the issues addressed. Though it is good to see workers in the justice system speaking out against these dubious laws, there has not been any discussion as to the causes of crime in society. Looking at areas where gangland crime is prominent you find that they are often very disadvantaged areas.

High crime rates are linked to poor housing and poor community facilities, high unemployment and drug abuse. With community funding being severely cut in the last budget this government has made clear its intention to tackle effects without any intention of curing, or even finding, the cause. Slashing funding to drug rehabilitation schemes is particularly hypocritical considering that most gangland crime is drug related.

When a fifth of all prisoners in Britain are in jail for defaulting on fines and 75% are manual workers, it seems that being poor is one of the main reasons for imprisonment and involvement in crime. The same holds for Ireland. The solution to criminal behaviour is not tougher laws, what is needed is a different, more equal society where the needs of people come before the profits of the rich.