The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

JULY/AUGUST 1990

GAZETTE INCORPORATE D LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND VOL 84 No. 7 Seotemoe''!

In this Issue

Viewpoint

2 35

Entitlement to damages for breach of Community legislation under English L aw

Viewpoint V,

2 37

2 42

Lawbrief

Only in a community where media hype appears from time to time to over-ride rational discussion and relevant facts could there have been a demand for a Constitutional amendment to restrict the avail- ability of bail at this time. Almost c o n t emp o r a n e o u s ly w i th the revelation that persons had taken part in an armed robbery while on bail for similar charges came the pub l i c a t i on of the s t a t i s t i cs showing the enormous effect of the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 requiring Courts to impose additional sentences where a convicted person had committed offences while on bail. These showed a dramatic decline in the number of offences com- mitted while persons were on bail. We have recently seen in two well-publicised cases involving Irish people in France and Germany what enormous delays there can be in a judicial process once the a c cus ed are safely imprisoned. In passing it may be commented that it is one of the more astonishing aspects of the European Charter on Human Rights and the adminis- tration of it that there does not appear to be any sanction on states wh i ch do not process criminal procedures rapidly or any recom- pense for those ultimately found not guilty. It seems clear that the me s s age about committing offences while on bail has got through to those petty criminals who commit the greatest number of offences. An area where the position may be less satisfactory is that of juvenile crime but no change in bail regulations will solve the major problem in this area, namely the absence of proper detention centres for those who are convicted.

So long as it remains a tenet of our judicial system that a person is innocent until he is proved guilty t hen he has a p r ima f a c ie entitlement to remain at liberty until the question of his guilt has been determined. That is not an absolute right and the Supreme Court have never said that it was nor has it ever said that there should not be conditions attached to bail. There may be a case for impos ing more stringent conditions on the granting of bail, particularly to t h o se c h a r g ed w i th s e r i o us offences s uch as requiring them to report to Garda Stations or officials of the Probation Service. Whether it would be sensible to try to im- pose an obligation on the surety who g o es bail for the good behaviour of the a c cus ed may be more doubtful. S u ch a provision might in one sense be counter p r od u c t i ve if s u r e t i es we re unwilling to take on the task of ensuring that the ac cus ed kept out of further trouble since that might discourage people from acting as sureties. One of the poorer arguments that has been directed at the question is the absence of prison facilities for persons who might not be allowed bail in the future. The truth is that the absence of sufficient facilities for those who have been convicted of offences is a national scandal which admittedly would be worsened by the addition of the number of persons who might be r e f u s ed bail under d i f f e r ent guidelines. It might be interesting to focus enquiry on whether those who are given early release from jail are subsequently found to have committed offences during the unexpired periods of their terms. • 235

Unit Linked Funds

2 4 8

Younger Members News

2 50

Add back calculations in Intoxicated Driving Of f ences

2 52

The First Women L awy e rs 2 56

Attitudes of apprentices to computers

2 59

261

Bootf Rev i ews

ofessional Information

2 65

E x e c u t i ve Editor: Mary Gaynor C omm i t t e e: Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman John F Buckley Gary Byrne Patrick McMahon Advertising: Seán Ó hOisin. Telephone: 305236 Fax: 307860 Printing: Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford. The views expressed in this publication, save where otherwise indicated, are the views of the contributors and not necessarily the views of the Council of the Society. The appearance of an advertisement in this publication does not necessarily indicate approval by the Society for the product or service advertised. Daire Murphy John Schutte

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