NCJ Number
146920
Date Published
1993
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the characteristics of paramilitary policing in Northern Ireland under the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
Abstract
The analysis emphasizes four features of popular justice in Northern Ireland. The author first notes the historical continuity between many elements of popular justice that existed in the 18th and 19th Century and those that exist in the 20th Century. A second feature is the dialectical relationship between certain sections of the community and the popular system of justice developed under the IRA. The process of popular justice is initiated by the people, and the level and severity of punishment are related to popular opinion. A third feature is the close relationship between the formal and informal systems. On occasions, people have contacted both the IRA and the RUC when they have been criminally victimized. A fourth feature is the similarity between the popular and the formal systems. In the popular system, there is no trial, and the accused has little or no opportunity to refute the evidence against him/her. Under the formal system, 90 percent of all defendants make a written or oral confession after lengthy police interrogation. Even for those who do not confess, the abolition of juries and the change in the evidence rules have significantly altered the scales of justice against the concept of a trial. The two systems do differ fundamentally in their sources of power. The formal system is power based on law or policy approved by a Parliament whose legality is disputed. The popular system, on the other hand, draws its power in part from a tradition of physical force, from support within the Nationalist areas, and by default. 45 footnotes