THE LONG-STANDING double jeopardy rule, which bans people being re-tried for an offence once they have been acquitted, is to be curtailed under a new Bill published yesterday by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
The Bill proposes that the possibility of re-trials would arise when new and compelling evidence emerges, where the original trial was “tainted” by perjury or intimidation, or where the trial judge gave a mistaken ruling on a point of law, leading to an acquittal.
“This will be welcomed by most people, especially by the victims, who feel affronted and scandalised by the knowledge that guilty persons were not being convicted for their crimes,” Mr Ahern said.
The Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 also ensures that family members of crime victims who have died or are incapacitated as a result of the crime are entitled to make a victim impact statement. The same right is extended where the victim is a child or is suffering from a mental disorder.
The proposed law also allows a child, someone suffering from a mental disorder or another vulnerable victim to make a victim impact statement to the court through a television link.
“I recognise that victims must not feel pressured into making statements if they felt unable or unwilling to do so,” Mr Ahern said. “This Bill makes it clear therefore that no inference can be drawn that would suggest the offence had no impact when a victim does not make a statement.”
While the right to make victim impact statements is extended, however, the Bill also provides for the court to prohibit the broadcast or publication of either all or part of the statement. Breach of such an order would be punishable by a maximum fine of €5,000 and/or up to 12 months’ imprisonment on summary conviction, or by a maximum fine of €50,000 and/or up to three years’ imprisonment following conviction on indictment.
Mr Ahern said he was acutely aware of the need to uphold the basic principles of the criminal justice system, and he was satisfied the new Bill would not interfere with those principles. Rather, the new legislation would close an “intolerable gap” in the system.
He said that the Bill was part of a package of measures which comprise the Justice for Victims Initiative, announced last year. Other elements include the establishment of a Victims of Crime Office in the Department of Justice, and the setting up of the Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime, whose role includes the distribution of funds to groups working with crime victims.
