A Critical Analysis Of The Many Manifestations Of The Criminal Justice System And The Principles That Underlie The Current Irish System

AuthorEvan Ryan
PositionBCL, LLM (Criminal Justice) candidate, UCC
Pages112-121
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MANY MANIFESTATIONS
OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
AND THE PRINCIPLES THAT UNDERLIE
THE CURRENT IRISH SYSTEM
Evan Ryan*
A INTRODUCTION
In order to analyse the current criminal justice system, it is necessary to
reflect on what systems have gone before it. The structures and principles that
define our system of criminal justice are complex and have evolved over many
centuries. These principles have manifested themselves into a number of
different forms and it is from these principles that the foundations for the
current criminal justice system have been created. Therefore, it is necessary to
examine these principles carefully in order to provide a detailed analysis of the
current systems in place.
This paper shall essentially be broken into two parts; first, the historical
development of the criminal justice system and second, the current Irish
system. The first section will deal with the transitions between the pre-
modern, modern and late-modern eras. To aid this discussion, the essential
and extensive works of David Garland and Michel Foucault will be explored,
with a view to explaining the reasons underlying the evolution of penal policy.
The second part of this paper, which discusses the current Irish
position, will be broken down into two sections. The first section will discuss
specific examples of late-modern penal policy in the Irish domain. The second
section will critically analyse sentencing policy in Irish law and attempt to
explain the current attitudes and guidelines that underlie sentencing in
Ireland. There is a definite link between these two notions and an in-depth
analysis of both constituents will hopefully shed light on the current Irish
criminal justice system.
It is essential to look at this particular topic in a detailed, analytical
manner as there have been significant changes in penal policy over a number
of centuries. This author hopes to come to a conclusion regarding the system
of justice which exists in Irish law today, following a detailed account of the
factors that have influenced it.
B THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Michel Foucault’s book, Discipline and Punish1 is an ideal starting
point for this discussion. The relationship between power and knowledge is
central to Foucault’s work and Discipline and Punish essentially charts the
reorganisation of the power to punish and how changing power relations
affected punishment. The original practice of punishment, which is now
known as the ‘pre-modern’ era of punishment, was administered exclusively
by the sovereign and focused on inflicting pain to the body of the accused. The
execution was a public spectacle and the whole economy of power was
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* BCL, LLM (Criminal Justice) candidate, UCC.
1 M Foucault and A Sheridan (tr) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (Vintage New
York 1979).

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