The State will tell the High Court shortly why Malcolm Macarthur remains in prison and why he should stay there. If the State thought otherwise, it could have acted accordingly at any time in the recent past and so it is expected that on July 10th when counsel for the State returns to the court, an explanation will be given as to why the convicted murderer should not be given his freedom, as recommended by the Parole Board. This threatens to take the State - or rather the Government - into a relationship with prison inmates that is not healthy for democracy and may not survive scrutiny by the European Court.
The Macarthur case is no miscarriage of justice. Almost 24 years after his name was catapulted into public prominence, his crimes - the separate murders of nurse Bridie Gargan and farmer Donal Dunne - have lost none of their capacity to shock. On the basis of a guilty plea, Macarthur was convicted in January 1983 of killing Miss Gargan only. In July 1983, the case against him for Mr Dunne was not proceeded with on the basis that he had not appealed his conviction and that his sentence for her murder - life imprisonment - could not be increased even if he was convicted also of the murder of Mr Dunne.
The average life term served in the Irish penal system is 13.86 years. Macarthur has served 23 years - and is one of the State's longest serving prisoners. He is now in Shelton Abbey open prison - hardly indicative of his being a threat to society. The Parole Board, which had before it expert psychiatric assessments, recommended that he should be released. The decision is now a political one and will be taken by Defence Minister Willie O'Dea. The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell absented himself due to a conflict of interest having acted as a barrister on the defence team in 1982.
The Macarthur case is one of the most notorious political cases in the history of the State. The general coarsening of public discourse in recent years and lowering of some media standards means that extreme commentary attends almost any mention of it, as was the case with the British media and Myra Hindley. But fear of public or media reaction are not legitimate factors, and should not be, in determining the liberty, or otherwise, of a person.
The decision to release Macarthur, who has served far more years in prison than a traditional life sentence, should not be a political decision. It should be governed by an independent procedure, notably his propensity to commit further murders. The Parole Board should have its say.