THE Minister for Justice Mrs Owen, will formally open an international conference on crime, justice and public order in Dublin this morning.
The conference, at Dublin Castle, is organised by the Garda, the Department of Justice and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Today's speaker include the Garda Commissioner, Mr Patrick Culligan. The Taoiseach Mr Bruton, will give the keynote address later this week.
More than 200 academics, senior police, lawyers and justice officials will attend the week long conference.
Today's business includes sessions on policy and social issues in criminal justice, forensics and DNA analysis, drug abuse prevention and treatment, responding to terrorism, police relations with the community and youth delinquency.
This is the third in a series of conferences organised by the college. Previous events were in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1992 and in New York in 1994.
Among the speakers is Prof Lawrence Kobilinsky of the John Jay College, a DNA expert who became well known in the US for TV commentary during the O.J. Simpson trial. Prof Kobilinsky is currently examining how DNA and other scientific evidence can be made more comprehensible to juries. He has also raised questions about the value of some DNA analysis in criminal trials.
The conference is also to be addressed by Mr Carlo Boccia, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New York, who will present a paper on "a holistic approach to the drug problem".
According to Mr Boccia law enforcement agencies can only fight "a holdin battle" against drugs. Only political determination to maintain prevention, education and treatment programmes "over at least a generation" can make an impact on the demand for drugs.
He also believes the most important step law enforcers can take against drug traffickers is seizure of their cash and other assets. In his experience, he said, even large seizures of illegal sub stances have little impact on street prices.