PSNI Chief Constable Mr Hugh Orde is expected to come under fire from sections of the Policing Board today after accusing the Northern Ireland judiciary of lenient sentencing.
Speaking to the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York earlier this week, Mr Orde claimed that judges in the North were softer than their counterparts in Britain and the Republic.
But, in an unusual departure yesterday, the North's most senior judge, the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Kerr, issued a statement refuting the allegations.
"I have no hesitation in rejecting any suggestion that judges in this jurisdiction pass sentences that are inappropriate," he said. "Any objective analysis of sentencing trends in Northern Ireland will reveal that it is carried out across the judicial tiers with conspicuous care and skill."
The row coincided with the release of a government review of sentencing trends yesterday showing the number of people who went to prison in the North in 2001 was the lowest for almost a decade. Mr Orde, who will face a public sitting of the Policing Board today, had expressed his desire to see those convicted of terrorist offences jailed. "It would be awfully helpful if the judges . . . could lock them up for slightly longer," he added. "We seem to have a problem, where sentences compared to London are lenient."
Mr Orde added that the courts in the Republic were even more hardline. There they "throw away the key", he said.
SDLP Policing Board member Mr Alex Attwood said there were good arguments for longer sentences for some crimes. But, he said, "throwing away the key . . . is not the best standard for sentencing policy, even though the courts should toughen up on a range of crimes."
Statistics out yesterday disclosed that the number of people sentenced to immediate custody in 2001 was 1,778 - down 18 per cent on 2000 and reflecting a decline since 1993.