Irish Judges on Trial

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Tuesday March 13, 2007 21:13 by Angry Man

What is a good family?

Today, live-line listeners heard first hand from the distressed lady whose rapist was let walk free from the court after a jury had found him guilty. On the very same day, the same judge Kearney, committed another rapist to 15 years in jail followed by 10 years supervised release. Both men broke into the womens houses, both men were under the influence, both men traumatised their victims and both victims were totally innocent of any provocation. What is the difference?

According to judge Kearney, One was a young man from a "good family" and the other wasn't. So what is a "good family?"

For hundreds of years lawyers and courts have developed carefully worked out codes, common law, written law and precedents. Every word in a law or in a case precedent, is parsed, analysed and defined. That is what we expect from a court. Wisdom and a concept of Justice. But that is not what we get.

Every day sentances are reduced or mitigated or supended altogether by judges who justify this by saying "the defendant is from a good family". Is it not high time that this concept that seems to be so over-riding over all other law, was properly defined?

I think the government should put through a bill defining the concept of the "Good Family" rather than leaving it up to class based prejudices of lawyers and judges.

In addition to the above rapist, a couple of years ago we had the Annabelles night club disgrace, Last week on Live-line listeners heard the harrowing tale of a Cork taxi driver who was lured by a young fellow to a remote site and beaten senseless over the head with a brick and left for dead. Where do you think that young fellow is now? Mountjoy? no. UCC!. He was let off by the judge because he was under the influence, because he was from a "good family" and in first arts in UCC so he had to be let finish his degree, didn't he? Yea Right! if he was a first year apprentice plumber, would he be let off to finish his apprenticeship? I'll give you two guesses!

So what the Hell is a "good family". Does a tax dodging business man have a good family?, Does a corrupt politition have a good family? Does an out of work Docker have a good family or does a farm worker have a good family. Is the "good Famil;y" concept just a smokescreen for class discrimination? Of Course it is as currently used. So lets take the class out of it by demanding that the courts /government define the term "good family". If they shirk from this as they probable will do, then let the whole concept be removed from consideration by judges and courts because as it is, it is a scandal that is making a laugh and disgrace of our nation.