July 20 1974
So far, there has been no official reply to the charges made by the Association for Legal Justice, after a two-month study, that the average sentence meted out by the courts to Catholics is just over twice as severe as that received by Protestants; and that on average, Catholics could expect a prison sentence of 6.5 years, while the average sentence on a Protestant would be 3.2 years.
Nobody can say that the ALJ’s criticism, backed by evidence, of the current administration of the criminal law is entirely unfounded. The newspaper reports provide ample confirmation. It would seem to call for some comment or explanation, either by the Law Society or the Bar Council.
The ALJ disquiet merely reflects a growing public feeling that on the evidence of sentences imposed, there is just claim for saying that the law is not being administered impartially.
At the same time, everyone interested in human rights can respond to the ALJ’s call to “join in a concerted campaign to secure a court system in Northern Ireland free of anti-Catholic bias and an end to the anti-Catholic activities of the British Army and the RUC”.
Three years ago, more than a hundred barristers and solicitors practising in the Six County courts – men seldom given to incautious words – gave public expression to their concern into the administration of the criminal law over which they recognised there was “grave public concern”.
Their criticism brought about one change: the creation of a Department of Public Prosecution and the end of a system in the lower courts by which members of the RUC acted as prosecutors.
The concern of the lawyers and the present criticism of the ALJ focus on the selectivity of sentences of those found guilty provoked by the troubles. It would be right to assume from the present revelations that too often the dispensers of justice have cast a cold eye on the Catholic arrested and charged. Their sentences bear little relation to those handed to Protestants found guilty of similar offences, notably the possession of firearms.
The ALJ report claims that the discrepancy in sentence “is partly accounted for by the anti-Catholic bias of the RUC which supplies information to the Director of Public Prosecution, and partly due to the refusal of many republicans to recognise the courts; while Protestants often plead guilty to lesser charges”.
