White-collar crime - Document help for jury aids justice

JUSTICE Minister Alan Shatter’s announcement yesterday that measures have been implemented to help complex trials should be warmly welcomed.

The provisions — which will allow judges to order copies of documents, charts, transcripts and agreed summaries of evidence, as well as other documents, to be given a jury to assist its deliberations — were part of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act of 2001, but its full implementation was delayed for 10 years because of technical difficulties and the cost of reproducing such documents.

The installation of digital equipment in the courts should overcome the technical difficulties, and the cost involved is, in Mr Shatter’s opinion, “far outweighed” by the need for justice to be done in serious fraud cases.