The administration of the law has been put once again under the spotlight by publication of the Government's proposed constitutional amendment on bail and the latest report from the Working Group on a Courts Commission. In the one case the people are to be asked whether they agree that an ancient liberty the right of bail - should be restricted to facilitate the prosecution of serious offences; in the other the grave shortcomings of an antiquated, overburdened system of court administration is once again underlined. The question is, whether an improvement in the administration of the law leads necessarily to an improvement in the quality of justice available to those who must use its facilities.
Better administration of the legal system does not necessarily guarantee justice in the abstract sense of the term; but undoubtedly it can improve accessibility and fairness in how it is perceived and experienced by all who have to deal with it. This second report from the working group chaired by the Supreme Court judge, Mrs Justice Denham, is as scathing about its current management and financing as was its predecessor. It finds crisis management rather than forward management in many responsible offices, a fact that was underlined in yesterday's news that the Central Criminal Court is to resume early to cut the backlog of over 60 rape and murder cases which have been allocated to it. The Government is to be commended for its speedy response to the first report which called for a radical overhaul of methods and styles of administration and the appointment of many more legal personnel, including judges.
Much of this concern is driven by rapid social change, which has far outstripped the capacity of the legal system to respond, notably in the sphere of family law and divorce. The same catalyst of social change has driven the debate about the bail laws. The drugs culture that has come to plague many city communities is in part a product of the alienation of disadvantaged individuals and social groups from a society that has put such a premium on material success. That very success drives the ambition and the ruthlessness of those who profit from selling drugs, creating a new layer of criminal bosses who are immune to previous, more liberal, legal regimes in the matter of bail procedures. The murder of Veronica Guerin dramatised these changes and added to the political determination that they should be tackled with new rules.
There will be ample opportunity during the forthcoming referendum campaign to debate changes in the bail laws, and the outline legislation which will spell out in what spheres they will apply. The Government's statement is by no means restricted to drug trafficking offences, but extends to murder, manslaughter, causing grievous bodily harm and specified sexual and firearms offences as well. A Bar Council spokesman made the link between administration and justice explicit when he pointed out that "bail is necessitated by the delay that occurs between arrest and ultimate trial, and we would hope every administrative step possible will be taken to shorten that delay". The case for amending the bail laws is convincing in the face of changing social realities, but only to the extent that it is tightly regulated and closely scrutinised.