A Judicial Oversight of Policing, Article Critique Example

Introduction

In this article the author Daly (2011), argued that the Irish Judiciary as a whole, has the responsibility to more effectively monitor the performance of police conducting investigations, to ensure they are more accountable and to apply astute governance to ensure the application of the exclusionary rule delivers justice and fairness to all, as well as become more flexible by making that reflect and evolving legal institution like USA, Canada, England and Wales which all  have the same legal historical background.

Base on Daly (2011), focus on the Irish Judiciary at the beginning of her presentation, her rebuke, reprimand, and the abundance of evidence used from other countries that had similar issues to make the case for change in how the exclusionary rule was interpreted in 2011, it was quite obvious that these legal experts were her main audience throughout the entire paper.

Summary

The traditional operation of the exclusionary rule from an Irish perspective according to Daly (2011), was based on the constitutionality treatment given to evidence that were tainted. It was pointed out that evidence of this nature was always rejected by presiding judges as far back as 1964 (Daly, 2011).

Culturally, the author pointed out that the Irish Judiciary differed from their American counter part, when it comes to the  application of the exclusion rule, in  that the former base their rulings on deterrence, while the latter’s principle was grounded in protectionism  (Daley, 2011).

The rigidity and strictness of the Irish judiciary as it relates to the interpretation and application of the exclusion rule was highlighted, and the need to change it was strengthened by the high level of national protest that ensued on January 2010, when the Irish Supreme Court gave its ruling in the case D.P.P (Walsh) v Cash 2007. It was a case where the status quo was maintained as the judges did not engage in the discussion that would bring about the changes that were expected after years of internal and external judicial complaining.

Daly (2011) provided a comprehensive description of the exclusion rule and pointed out how the concept was interpreted and applied in England and Wales, USA, Canada and New Zealand. England and Wales had the inclusion in 1984 of section 78 of the Police Criminal Evidence Act which allowed the exclusion of evidence improperly obtained but it had no effect on how their courts ruled, while in the case of USA, reference was made of the case Hudson v. Michigan 547, where Daly (2011) showed that improperly evidence were not excluded from trials when there was deterrence value in the exclusion.

The cases of New Zealand and Canada were somewhat similar to the USA, in that all relevant evidence for both countries was admitted in their courts, regardless of how they were obtained. The author inserted the case of R v. Shaheed (2002) and R v. Wray (1979) respectively to emphasize both country successful use of the inclusionary rule

Irish law according to Daly (2011), as it relate to improperly obtained evidence was based on precedent that was set in the case People (AG) v. Obrien (1965), and all cases since then have been subjected to a two tier rule and decided on a case by case basis.

Strong arguments were made regarding the impact police or Garda Siochanam can have on the exclusion rule, when they knowingly or unknowingly violated the constitutional rights of suspects while collecting evidence

Finally, the concept of “The Poison Tree” was covered in detail with several outstanding cases used a reference, as well the opinions of the ruling and dissenting judges to several of these cases.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The article was well researched because of the inclusion of cases and literature from countries like England and Wales, Canada, USA, and New Zealand that were facing similar issues were done, with a view to highlight the fact that the Irish legal system was quite outdated and urgently needed reformation.

Daly (2011), focus almost exclusively on the Irish Judiciary, the archaic state of the legal system and the need for these judges to more closely monitor the investigative work of police as it relates the handling of evidence brought before the courts.

Cases that were relevant to all Daly (2011) were introduced in a timely manner to justify her arguments about the need for the Irish Justice System rulings and interpretation on the exclusion rule to become more in line with other progressive countries.

The author provided quality examples concerning both the issue of deterrence and the protection of the constitutional rights of individuals, especially when the case of D.P.P. (Walsh) v. Cash (2007) which involved the arrest and taking of the fingerprints of the suspect, was inserted.

In terms of weaknesses, it could be argue that the author should have had a wider focus by including the government leaders who was responsible for making the laws the judges interpret, and the families of the victims that failed to get justice from the courts, due to the type of interpretation given by these judges.

Daley could have used statistical evidence available to show how the rigidity of the system as it related to the exclusion rule was affecting the wider population, as these numbers would have brought more clarity to her arguments.

The author mentioned a number of countries that were more advance than Ireland but made no mention of the fact that it was legal reforms that caused the difference, and by providing more example of such reforms, the case could have been further strengthened and possible become more impacting beyond her target audience in the future.

Conclusion

The article highlighted the power of traditional laws, precedent rulings, the narrow-mindedness of judges, and the difficulty that victims of crimes that involved inadmissible evidence faces, in their quest for justice and closure.

Finally, after reading the article, it could be said that the growth and development of a country can be significantly deterred by the way criminals are prosecuted, as certain types of interpretation does little to deter criminal activities, because they belong to an earlier era, where the crime rate, the level of sophistication and technology, as well as the population were quite low.

Daly (2011) may agree with this saying that the wheels of justice spins slowly but surely, especially in the Irish legal system as it relates to the application and interpretation on the exclusionary rule.

Reference

Daly, Y.M., (2011), “Judicial Oversight of policing: investigations, evidence and the exclusionary rule” Crime Law Soc. Change (2011). Vol. 55 pp.199 – 215