The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1990

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T I NCOR PORA T E D

L A W SOC I E T Y

I / L M H / r I I r l ^ H ^ H I I I | L / 1

Vol. 84 No. 8 October 1

Viewpoint

271

Schizophrenia and the Law

273

Practice Notes

277

Lawbrief

278

Viewpoint As part of his address to the Half Yearly Meeting of the LawSociety, published in our June issue*, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Eamonn Barnes, in a character- istically thought-provoking manner, raised the question of whether our system for the investigation of criminal offences was not in need of radical review. He debated two possible changes - the providing of some form of judicial inquisitorial system along the lines of that existing in civil law countries and whether the absolute right to silence of a suspected person should continue. In a very stark way, Mr. Barnes stated that the "most basic rights, to walk the streets, to park a car, to the in- violability of one's own home are regularly and brutally invaded and can no longer be taken for granted as they were a few short years ago", and he correctly commented that " . . . . as a society we have become almost resigned to this state of affairs." Nobody can deny that there is a serious cause for concern about the level of crime - the shuttered faces of Dublin's shopping streets at night are silent evidence of this. However, whether a radical change in our criminal legal process could offer a panacea for this is open to question.

Younger Members News 282

No criminal justice systemwhich has imprisonment as one of its principal sanctions can function effectively if the prison accommo- dation is totally inadequate for the numbers required to be incarcera ted. The practice of releasing from prison prisoners with substantial amounts of their sentences still to run, inorder to accommodate those newly sentenced, negates the im- prisonment option. If prison is to have a rehabilitative function as well as a punitive one, then education and other programmes aimed at giving prisoners the opportunity to avoid crime in the future must be given time towork. For those prisoners whose reci- divism cannot be cured, it is im- portant for the credibility of the system that they remain in prison for the appropriate period of their sentence. It is courageous of Mr. Barnes to debate the issue of diminishing a suspected person's right to pre- serve silence under interrogation at a time of controversy concerning the Guildford Four, Maguire Seven and Birmingham Six cases. We, in this country, are not immune from cases involving questionable con- fessions. In one well publicised case in recent years (DPP -v- Lynch), fortunately ultimately remedied by the Supreme Court, a person had been convicted of murder on the basis of aconfession which more efficient police investi- gation would have identified as being untenable. However, the adoption of the in- quisitorial system such as operates (Contd. on p. 275)

People & Places

284

James J. Ivers, Director General 1973-1990 — In Retrospect Association of Pension Lawyers

287

291

Book Reviews

293

Professional Information 297

* E x e c u t i ve E d i t o r: Mary Gaynor C o m m i t t e e: Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman John F. Buckley Gary Byrne Patrick McMahon A d v e r t i s i n g: Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 305236 Fax: 307860 P r i n t i n g: 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. Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. Tel.: 710711 Telex: 31219 Fax: 710704 Daire Murphy John Schutte

*"Does the Irish Criminal Justice System Work" by Eamonn M. Barnes, Director of Public Prosecu- tions, Gazette, June 1990, pp.161/165.

271