Sentences of 10 years might be routinely handed down for the supply of cannabis if new legislation goes through and this would seem manifestly unjust, a professor of law at Trinity College, Dublin, has said.
Prof Ivana Bacik, Reid Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology, said the introduction of the concept of mandatory minimum sentences for certain drugs offences in the Criminal Justice Bill, 1997, was particularly alarming.
The Bill made no distinction between heroin and other drugs, she said, so it was clearly foreseeable that 10-year sentences may be routinely handed down for the supply of cannabis.
"At a time when there is growing international pressure for the decriminalisation of cannabis, and when an increasingly lenient view is taken in cases involving the possession of small amounts of cannabis, this would seem manifestly unjust," Ms Bacik said in an article in the Bar Review, the journal of the Bar of Ireland.
While the Bill would allow for exceptions to the mandatory sentences, for example where the accused pleaded guilty, its operation would still hamper the exercise of judicial discretion and could foreseeably lead to severe injustice in individual cases.
Ms Bacik also questioned whether it was wise for the Minister for Justice to seek to introduce more legislation giving greater powers to the gardai.
The recently published report of the Strategic Management Initiative on the Garda had recommended a significant extension of gardai's powers of detention and arrest and some modification of the right to silence.
Ms Bacik said that any such changes should be approached with extreme caution. Recent events suggested that gardai were still not quite familiar with the new powers and procedures contained in existing legislation.
"Thus, it must be doubtful whether the provision of extra powers of this nature would be advisable," she said.
"At a time, therefore, when the operation of the criminal justice system appears to be in some crisis, and is the subject of mounting public criticism, it may be questioned whether it is wise for the Minister for Justice to be seeking to introduce yet more legislation, giving still greater powers to the gardai and eroding further the rights of the defendant," she stated.
Surely now, more than ever, was the time to attempt a consolidation and ultimately a codification, of the criminal law.