Delays to the provision of new sentencing guidelines to members of the judiciary has been criticised in the wake of the case in which serving soldier Cathal Crotty was given a fully suspended sentence for an assault on Natasha O’Brien.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Social Democrat TD Róisín Shortall said new sentencing guidelines expected to be delivered by the Judicial Council had still not been published almost five years after the council was established and the Government did not seem to know when they might arrive.
Minister of State at the Department of Higher and Further Education, Niall Collins, said the Government has no role in the process because of the separation of powers but that he expects the guidelines to be published “quite shortly”.
Ms Shortall said the decision to give Crotty a fully suspended sentence had left many people “absolutely incensed and flabbergasted” and suggested the message sent out “to young men and to young women is that this kind of behaviour is in some way acceptable”.
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“But the other thing of course, is in relation to sentencing guidelines. The Judicial Council was established in 2019, five years later, we’re still waiting for sentencing guidelines from that body. And again, the Government is saying, ‘we’re going to find out what’s happening’. Why are they only doing that now?”
The Judicial Council was established in December 2019 with the intention of providing education and other supports to judges. It is comprised of all of the members of the judiciary and has an 11 member board that includes the Chief Justice and the presidents of District Court, Circuit Court, High Court and Court of Appeal.
Six committees, including the Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee, were established by the council during 2020.
“I think it’s worth pointing out that it’s 30 years since Lavinia Kerwick, since that case which was a rape situation and the perpetrator walked free with a suspended sentence,” said Ms Shortall. “Now, what have we learned since then? Why are we waiting so long for this and in relation to the judiciary?
“I’ve made the point already that it’s been five years since the Judicial Council was set up. That body was charged with responsibility for judges, judicial education and also the sentencing guidelines. Five years later, nothing has happened”.
Responding to the comments, Mr Collins said: “I would also agree with the concerns that have been raised in relation to the pace of work there, but we do have a separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary and that has been worked on now for a long time but I would expect that it will produce new sentencing guidelines quite shortly.”
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