Kill the Bill meeting

dublin | crime and justice | event notice Saturday February 05, 2005 15:12 by Donal O'Liathain liathain at gmail dot com

Stop Mc'Dowell's Criminal Justice Bill

A Kill the Bill campaign meeting is been held next Wednesday February 9th at 8pm in the Teacher's Club Parnell Square.

KILL THE BILL - STOP MC DOWELL'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILL

BIG BROTHER STATE
In his critique of a big brother state,1984 George Orwell expresses his fear of an all knowing totalitarian government which relies on fear to enforce it's draconian measures.

Due to it's increase in police powers the 2004 Bill was initially intended to coincide with a Garda Reform Bill. The Criminal Justice Bill relies on a police force which uses discretion wisely and is above corruption and abuse. The failure of the government to reform the status quo of the police answering to themselves and recent events such as Abbeylara have shown that this rose-tinted view is unjustified.

ON THE SPOT FINES
Article 34 of the Irish Constitution guarantees that justice will be administered in a court of law. The government's proposal will allow a Garda based only on their reasonable and subjective opinion of a person committing an arrestable offence to fine that person on the spot. Failure to pay this fine will lead to a 50% increase in the fine after 28 days. Failure to pay within 2 months will lead to prosecution where the defendant will be liable to a fine 0f 1,500 euro. This completely bypasses justice and the checks and balances inherent in a democracy. The Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform stated this was targeted at public disorder connected with youth drinking but in the past regressive legislation such as this has been used to criminalise dissent by way of discouraging protest.

Power to issue warrants to themselves
The Bill also allows the Garda Siochana to issue search warrants to themselves. Currently the police must request and justify a warrant from a district court judge for a number of listed offences. This provides an important safe guard from police intimidation and evidence implantation. Section 5 of the Bill extends the list of offences and allows a Superintendent to issue an "emergency search warrant" where he judges practicable in the situation.

Increase in hours of detention Another proposal is the use of witness statements made during police detention while extending such detention. On the order of a Superintendent a person can be detained for 24 hours, doubling the current 12 hours under the Criminal Justice Act 1984. While under police supervision a witness could make a statement which could later be retracted on release. This allowed a witness to dismiss a statement made under police intimidation or duress. The Minister has promised that all detention cells will have CCTV cameras, we have yet to see results and the minister is basing the justification on the naive notion that intimidation can only occur in a cell. The bill allows the prosecution to choose which statement they wish to use as witness testimony.

Intrusive Powers to collect DNA
Possibly the greatest invasion of privacy in this bill is regarding DNA. With the development of criminal science DNA can be used to identify suspects and has been a great asset to the fight against crime. However your DNA is also highly personal and it is widely acknowledged that DNA collection and retention is open to abuse. Currently your DNA may only be taken in extreme circumstances and is termed an "intimate" part of your body. The bill proposes the removal of stringent requirements for collecting a sample, force-able collection if necessary and increased penalties for obstructing an officer from doing so. Apart from the personal invasion of collection the period that the state may retain your DNA before it must be destroyed has been doubled to 12 months. Limited retention periods required as DNA samples can potentially be used to falsely incriminate an individual, leaving a sample at a crime scene for example.

Not only does this bill attack our constitutional rights, obstruct justice and encourage a self-monitoring police force it has at it's root the criminalisation of dissent and disagreement.



Find out more, get involved turn up to the meeting

February 9th at 8pm in the Teacher's Club Parnell Square.