The protection of children and society.

national | crime and justice | opinion/analysis

Friday October 19, 2012 12:40

by Gale Vogel - Birds Eye View

Constitutional amendment and enforcement.

Children have been protected in our constitution. Protecting our young is reflected in how our laws are enforced and not only in our legislation. The topic is symptomatic of our society today and is reflected in other areas too and how we all consider one another.

Children have been protected in our constitution, with a caveat that the rights of the child are to have parents and the right of the parents are to protect their children. The state have since 1937 maintained the right to take the responsibility as parents where the parents have failed. This protection in the past has been delegated to religious institutions with infamous consequences. Slavery and abuse have been extensively reported as being the result of this delegation of the states responsibility. The wording of the constitution is proposed to be changed, and while it may indeed be improved wording, the protection failure in the past has been due to inappropriate or absent enforcement. Like much legislation, we should consider whether merely adding or changing laws will result in any improvement if enforcement is either of poor quality or absent.

Protecting our young is reflected in how our laws are enforced. Graham Griffiths violently and sexually attacked a teenage girl, admitted the wrong doing and was prescribed a suspended sentence and a bill. By being ordered to pay to the still suffering victim who at the time was 17 years old, a sum of €15,000 together with other conditions his name would not be placed on the sex offenders register due to there being imposed no custodial sentence. Judge Nolan considers it reasonable to make this an example of how we in Ireland care for our young while preparing for a referendum to change the wording of our Constitution. Judge Nolan is quoted as saying in a previous trial dated in March of this year, “it gives me no joy at all to sentence a decent man”. This was for the misrepresentation of a health food for tax purposes. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0309/....html

Perhaps Judge Nolan is equally lacking in joy in setting free a man with the violent tendencies of Graham Griffiths. Though suffering from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and being under the influence of drugs at the time, he has also prior convictions for violence. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/man-who-....html

Griffiths did however express regret. Anthony Lyons initially pleaded not guilty to a similar attack but nevertheless had most of this sentence suspended, again with a bill and other conditions. This is of course confirmation of an overall trend, where money is the prime dictator. It however in light of our pending referendum is also an indication of our true will where we can take and be billed later. Do we tolerate this? Protective incarceration is both for the protection of those free in society and the perpetrators alike. Once we begin putting a monetary value of crime, or on people we are stooping and degrading ourselves.

Society is increasingly accepting only a machine and rejecting the very people.

http://www.thejournal.ie/unusual-sentence-for-sex-offen...2012/