Victim groups: Committee to balance scales of justice unbalanced

VICTIM and civil liberty groups yesterday criticised the composition of a top-level committee tasked with re-balancing the criminal justice system.

The membership of the Expert Review Group was announced by Justice Minister Michael McDowell on Wednesday. It comprises three legal experts, two top civil servants from the Department of Justice and a representative from the DPP’s office and the Attorney General’s office.

The eighth member, former Minister for Justice Nora Owen, is a member of a Department of Justice commission on the victims of crime.