Madam, - Victor Boyhan of the PDs writes (April 12th) to defend Minister for Justice Michael McDowell's ill-thought-out and deeply flawed Criminal Justice Bill against my earlier criticisms (April 10th). He cites a recent RTÉ Prime Timeprogramme on sentencing, suggesting in a series of case studies that members of the public favoured tougher sentences than were actually imposed by courts.
I watched that programme with great interest. What Mr Boyhan neglects to mention is that many of the respondents reduced the sentence they would have imposed when given additional information about the case - information that had been available to the actual sentencing judge.
Contrary to Mr Boyhan's suggestion, the popular mood is not punitive. People are justifiably concerned about crime, particularly violent crime. But most people realise that a Justice Minister who focuses on passing ever tougher criminal laws, yet who fails to implement the necessary front-line crime prevention measures, is paying only lip-service to the real needs of victims.
- Yours, etc,
IVANA BACIK, Law School, Trinity College, Dublin 2.