Sir, – The shameful, vile and grotesque attack by a serial offender who carried out a prolonged violent attack on two innocent passengers from Mexico and Portugal on Dublin Bus ("Three-year suspended sentence after couple attacked on bus", October 9th) has brought shame and disgrace not just on the people of this country but primarily on our judicial system by the imposition of 240 hours of community service as part of a suspended three-year sentence.
Unfortunately, cases of unduly lenient sentences are not uncommon.
I am outraged at the issuing of bail to those who clearly represent a danger to society and to the increasing practice of imposing suspended sentences for violent assaults. I am also outraged at the failure of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to challenge these sentences.
I believe in prison reform and prisoner rehabilitation, but I also believe in the right of citizens to feel safe on the streets, on public transport and in their homes.
Most of us can only look on in helpless bewilderment at the inadequate sentencing policies and bizarre bail laws which result in violent serial criminals remaining at liberty to terrorise society.
Penal reform is overdue, but surely society’s primary sympathies should lie with the victims of crime?
An impediment in our justice system is the absence of a judicial council, which means that no systematic framework exists for elucidating a clear and coherent sentencing policy, despite the fact that a clear sentencing policy was provided for through the law of the land under the Criminal Justice Act 1999. – Yours, etc,
TOM COOPER,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.