Homicide sentencing - Scant justice for families of victims

Coping with the death of a loved one is hard enough in ordinary circumstances, but it is utterly different when they are the victim of murder.

For that reason, there will be a groundswell of sympathy for the families of victims of homicide, who have a great many reasons to be dissatisfied with judicial sentencing in this country.

As a double murder investigation opens in Kerry, only those who have lost a family member to homicide know the horror of that scenario. They also know how it feels when someone who has committed murder gets a few short years behind bars — and they relive the ordeal when a perpetrator gets early release from jail.

Those fortunate enough never to have experienced this nightmare will be shocked to learn that more than one in eight family members of homicide victims never return to work after their bereavement. Research released yesterday by the advocacy group AdVic shows 65% of the families of homicide victims are dissatisfied with the sentence handed down to the perpetrator.

It must be an agonising ordeal for families to sit through what seems, in their mind, an open-and-shut case of murder, only to hear a manslaughter plea requiring a lesser punishment than the mandatory life sentence for homicide. It is hardly surprising that three out of every four victims’ families believe that, when bringing a prosecution, the State often pursues a charge of manslaughter over murder purely to secure a conviction. If that were the case, it would indeed be a sorry state of affairs.

Among other grievances, families are unhappy with proposed reform of the penal system: 90% are dissatisfied with current bail laws (which sometime enable a murderer to strike again), while 63% have called for the introduction of minimum sentencing guidelines for homicide.

Equally damning comments are rightly levelled at the sentencing imbalance in other serious categories of crime. This is particularly true of sexual offence cases, where sentencing can vary drastically from one judge to another.

In the popular mind, a key problem is seen as an out-of-touch judiciary at the heart of a badly skewed legal system. At the snap of a judge’s finger, someone can be jailed for a petty crime such as shoplifting. Meanwhile, those who brought the country’s economy to its knees continue to golf long after investigations are opened.

It is not enough to blame the complexity of a case for the slow progress in bringing suspects before the courts. It may be more accurate to cite manpower shortages for interminable delays which starkly contrast with the lightning speed of the justice system in the US, where white-collar perpetrators are instantly frog-marched into court without apology.

Chronic overcrowding in the country’s prisons is a major problem that inevitably leads to the revolving door syndrome which, in turn, is exacerbated by judges who persist in sending offenders to prison for short sentences instead of putting them on community work schemes.

Against this depressing backdrop, the plight of the families of murder victims is heartbreaking. Though eight years have passed since AdVic was established, it is outrageous that frustratingly few reforms have taken place. As a meagre concession, families are guaranteed seating in court and entitled to make a victim impact statement. Their cause warrants far greater reform.