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Irish
Council for Civil Liberties - Summary of submission to National
Crime Forum.
1.
The
Liberty and Security of the Person
The ICCL
recognises that the fulfilment of each individual's potential as a
human being depends upon the just and proper functioning of the
society in which we live. It is an accepted tenet of both
constitutional and international human rights law that the State has
a responsibility to protect its citizens life, person, good name and
property (e.g. Article 40.3 of the Constitution, the European
Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.) The State has a responsibility in law to protect
its citizens as best it can from unjust attacks on their personal
lives. The policy of the State towards crime (or lack thereof) may be
a violation of the State's guarantees in that regard.
a/ Domestic
Violence
The failure of the
State to take adequate and timely measures to punish, and in
particular to prevent, domestic violence is a clear violation of the
State of its responsibilities towards its citizens. Widespread
domestic violence is inconsistent with a state policy concern for the
victims of crime.
b/ The
Drug Crisis Amongst Communities
The chronic abuse
of heroin in particular has left many communities devastated through
death, disease, despair and financial ruin. The recent Government
reversal of a planned £20 million investment in communities hit
hardest by drugs is inconsistent with a concern for the welfare of
those communities. That decision makes a mockery of the Government's
stated policy to get tough on crime as even the Gardai recognise the
link between drugs and crime . This failure to act on the drugs issue
will serve to perpetuate the crime cycle.
c/ The
Prison Issue
The State has
failed to fund in-depth research into the effectiveness of prisons as
a deterrent against crime. What research exists in Ireland and abroad
casts considerable doubt on the theory of prison as deterrent. Indeed
experience in America shows that the more prison space that is
created the more people there are to fill those places. The
Government has persisted in a policy of large expenditure ion prison
spaces and the failure to fund alternative options to prison. The
inadequate funding of the Probation Welfare service is testimony to
the Government's lack of forethought in its present policy on crime.
d/ Unemployment
Research has also
shown a direct correlation between crime and social deprivation.
Although unemployment has dropped within the last few years, some
communities have been untouched by the economic boom. The Government
has an onus to provide incentives and real hope to the long-term
unemployed and to their children. It is only by investing in areas of
greatest need will the conditions that facilitate crime begin to be eradicated.
2. The
Rights of a Person Suspected of a Criminal Offence
It is a
fundamental principle of constitutional and international human
rights law that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Any Crime
strategy must have due regard to this basic principle of justice. The
State has all its resources at its disposal when it investigates an
offence. The citizen, who may be rich or poor, educated or
uneducated, employed or unemployed, worldly wise or naive is entitled
to certain rights and protections.
a/ The
Right to Silence
This is a
fundamental right which operated to protect an individual against the
oppression of the State. It has a long history based upon the premise
that no person should be forced to incriminate themselves and that
the State should be required to prove the case against an accused
person. It is generally recognised that within a police station any
person may sign a "confession" that is untrue. While most
people are familiar with the names of The Birmingham Six, The
Guildford Four, Judith Ward, The Bridgewater Four, it must be
remembered that people within this jurisdiction have been wrongly
convicted on the basis of disputed "confession" evidence
e.g. the Sallins Mail Train Robbery and the Lynch case. The reasons
behind the signing of such "confessions" range from
straightforward brutality to psychological duress or manipulation. It
should always be remembered that the person doing the interviewing in
the Garda station is highly trained while the interviewee has no such training.
b/ The
Right to Liberty - Violated by Seven Day Detention
The Criminal
Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 allows for Seven Day detention of
those suspected of drug trafficking offences. This applies to the
passing of a cannabis joint from one friend to another just as it
applies to a major drug supplier. The UK Government has used seven
day detention against Irish persons to extract confessions (see
above). Clearly, the resolve of a person diminishes with each passing
day within the station. The clear reason for seven day detention is
to break down the will of the person to rely upon their legal right
to silence. If this power of detention is necessary for investigation
of accounts, etc., then at the very least there should be a
prohibition on questioning.
c/
The Right to Legal Advice
There are problems
relating to access to legal advice. For example, there are no proper
facilities for the carrying out of consultations with solicitors in
the police stations. Rooms ought to be provided where consultations
may take place within the sight but not the hearing of the Gardai.
Problems have also arisen where the Gardai have insisted on
interviewing persons while their solicitors are actually in Court
representing other persons.
d/ The
Right to a Jury Trial
The Government
should abolish the Special Criminal Court which allows for the trial
of criminal offences by three Judges sitting without a jury. The
Special Criminal Court in operating without a jury is similar to the
discredited Diplock courts in Northern Ireland. The Special Criminal
Court was set up as a direct consequence of the situation in Northern
Ireland. If that was ever a justification for denying the right to
trial by jury, that justification has ceased since the start of the
peace process. It is also a breach of international law to use this
emergency court for a purpose for which it was never intended, i.e.
the trial of "ordinary criminals".
e/ Mandatory
Sentences
The ICCL is
extremely concerned about proposals to introduce mandatory 10 year
sentences for those caught with £10,000 worth of a drug
(including cannabis). This would operate to inflict great injustice
upon persons. It is well known that major drug dealers are rarely
caught with a quantity of drugs themselves. It is also known that
these suppliers prey upon people to act as couriers through duress,
threats, inducement or a combination of these. The couriers are often
vulnerable individuals who see no other way out for themselves but to
carry our the legal act. The prisons would quickly be filled with
such persons (many of whom have no previous convictions) while the
drug suppliers remain untouched. There are other practical problems
with such legislation such as how to price a drug when there is no
legal market for the assessment of that price.
The above is
a brief outline of the submissions that the ICCL intends to make to
the Crime Forum in due course.
We understand that
the membership of the Crime Forum has not been finalised. The ICCL
believes we should be represented on this body as a voice for the
above concerns. We believe that any crime policy to be followed by
the State should respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of
all persons within the State. |