Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Victim's Rights Bill 2008

Options
  • 28-01-2008 2:16am
    #1
    johnnyskeleton
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,505 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    I considered posting this in Legal Discussion, but on further reading of the bill, I have come to the conclusion that it's a cheap political ploy.

    FG have announced a new bill purporting to give the victims of crime a set of statutory rights. However, it doesn't really seem to give them any new rights, at least none that will have any real effect.

    http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2008/0108/B108D.pdf

    It seems to me that most of the bill is simply repetition of the current scheme, and that which is new is quite weak.

    In Particular:
    Could it not be called something other than the Victim's Rights Bill i.e. the complainant's rights or the rights of persons injured by crime bill etc?

    Section 5 states that victims must be treated with courtesy and compassion, and that the victim's dignity and privacy must be respected. While this is all very well, how is it supposed to work? Is it intended to prevent complainant's from being cross examined? A lot of the time, they will have to be asked questions that suggest that they are lying or are mistaken, is it intended to remove such questioning, or is it just an empty forumla?

    There is a clarification of the law that includes the members of a deceased injured party's family as "victims", although the courts have tended to do this anyway in such cases (e.g. wayne o donoghue case)

    There is a restatement of the law on victim impact statements but I'm not sure it makes any substantial difference.

    A victim (which includes anybody who makes a complaint) is entitled to have their views expressed to the court when a bail application is being made, but there is nothing which allows the court to take account of their views (i.e. it is not a ground to refuse bail if the victim makes their views known).

    There are a lot of provisions about the notification rights of victims.

    There is a new commission being set up for victims, and victims are allowed to complain when they are not satisfied. However, there doesn't seem to be any enforcement mechanism in this, and it seems quite weak.

    So my question is, is this a cynical political move, or am I not seeing the significance of this bill?


Advertisement