Blogging from the Bog

   With the advent of multi and instant media coverage we can witness nearly first hand the wheels of justice in motion.  Long gone are the days of next day reportage of some distant court trial and it’s verdict with maybe a pic above the fold of a daily rag.  No, we have televised court dramas, newspapers that are full of victim’s photographs, charts, graphs, suspect’s whereabouts and timelines, mobile phone triangulations, and all provided real time for our voracious appetites and vicarious involvement.  Sure don’t we know the fecker is guilty innocent guilty (the barstool barristers can spoil a good pint) before the opening statements?

   Gone too are the days of vigilantes and mob rule.  That was a messy ol’ business anyway, what with the gettin’ all lickerd’ up and then the chasin’ and the hangin’ of the culprit.  We are too civilised for that these days.  Instead we prefer to get all lickerd’ up at the local and pronounce sentence after the TV, radio, and newspaper evidence is scrutinised.  And besides, the gardai, judges, and the office of Public Prosecutions are all hard working, thorough and honest, aren’t they?  We now leave it to them "To provide on behalf of the People of Ireland a prosecution service that is independent, fair, and effective." -according to the Director’s welcome message on the DPP website.

   We now know from recent tribunals what the Gardai can be like, and the only consistency we get from the judges these days is in-consistency; but, what of that nameless, faceless crowd in the Department of Public Prosecutions?  I am not a big fan of secret societies or organisations that have loads of control and no transparent controllers, yet in their hands lie the keys to civilisation.  And according to the Act of the Oireachtas that brought this organisaton into being (The Prosecution of Offences Act 1974) the Director is the Taoiseach’s hand picked puppet.  My, my, my aren’t we blessed?

   We saw live television coverage of the OJ Simpson trial in 1995 and even with lorry loads of evidence the Prosecutors could not secure a conviction.  Simpson had his day in court (all 133 of them) within about six months of the crimes he was accused of.  Three years later on the 15th of August 1998 the car bombing of Omagh took place with the loss to our land of 29 souls.  It was not until three years later that the Northern Ireland authorities brought their first suspect to trial for this obscenity, his guilty verdict was subsequently overturned because the RUC (at the time) had fabricated evidence!  Ten years after the bombing a second defendant was brought before the judicial system on such flimsy evidence that the judge had to publically admonish the prosecuting team for their incompetence.  There are no other suspects awaiting trial in this case, and much to the heartache of the victim’s families and friends, it will be a hard road if they have to begin the investigation all over again.  Read O’Conall Street’s post.

   In the Republic there have been some really bizarre court cases, convictions, aquittals, and sentences for minor and major crimes, that seem to boggle the imagination.  Within this process the only un-accountable and uncontrolled players appear to be the DPP, do we take it for granted that they are our invisible super-heroes?  Or is it time that some light is shed on their abilities to perform to the high standards we deserve?  At least in Los Angeles they have the opportunity to vote out a District Attorney who is not meeting the expectations of the people he is sworn to protect and defend.  Here we don’t even know who they are, never mind why they do what they do, or if they’re good at it!

  OJ Simpson