Madam, - The letter signed by 65 solicitors in criminal practice (April 26th) criticised elements of the Criminal Justice Bill because, inter alia, it takes away judges' discretion on sentencing.
The legal profession has always been more liberal than the society it serves. Clearly, the majority of the Bench, like these solicitors, have been out of step with Irish people (including victims) when it comes to the leniency of sentencing.
Mandating judges to implement minimum sentencing (which has been in existence for murder for many years) is the right of the legislature - which is, after all, democratically elected, unlike the Bench. Judicial discretion must be balanced against the needs of society to protect itself. Regrettably, there are cases (especially concerning drugs) where the Bench has ignored the legislative branch and refused to implement mandatory sentencing.
A letter signed by 65 practising solicitors has more a touch of self-protection about it. After all, taking discretion away from judges takes work away from lawyers. - Yours, etc,
CIARAN McCOURT, Dartry Park, Dublin 6.
Madam, - John Kenny congratulates Michael McDowell's new Criminal Justice Bill, praising it as "a move reminiscent of Pierre Trudeau's handling of Canada's October Crisis of 1970". To a Canadian like myself, this is dubious praise, to say the least.
Prime minister Trudeau's invoking of the War Measures Act in 1970 was essentially a declaration of martial law in the province of Quebec. The streets of major cities were filled with armed soldiers and tanks. Hundreds of innocent people, including many artists and intellectuals, were rounded up and detained without charge, their only "crime" being that they held political sympathies other than those of the federal government.
Perhaps Mr Kenny is to be thanked for shining a useful light on what we might expect from a PD majority government.
How fortunate that the latest poll in The Irish Times shows them with the lowest public support of any party in the Dáil. - Yours, etc,
RICK LINES, Executive Director, Irish Penal Reform Trust, Parnell Square West, Dublin 1.