THE Law Society has welcomed the Government's new anti crime measures, but warned that there are inherent dangers in casting aside traditionally respected civil liberties.
In a statement, the director general of the society, Mr Ken Murphy, said that the fundamental principles underlying the criminal justice system should not be abandoned "in an emotional response to recent tragic events".
What had to be achieved was a criminal justice system which preserved the rights of the innocent while ensuring that the guilty were "swiftly caught and punished". The most effective way to reduce the number of crimes committed by those on bail was to reduce the time between arrest and trial.
The society contended that the right to silence had been a part of the law for so long that it should not be changed without careful consideration of all the possible effects.
