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The Special Criminal Court is a juryless criminal court in the Republic of Ireland which tries terrorist and organized crime cases. Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to establish "special courts" with wide-ranging powers when "the ordinary courts are inadequate to secure the effective administration of justice". The court was first established by the Dáil under the Offences Against the State Act 1939 to prevent the Irish Republican Army from subverting Ireland's neutrality during World War II (see: the Emergency). The current incarnation of the Special Criminal Court dates from 1972, just after the Troubles in Northern Ireland began. This article is confusing for some readers, and needs to be edited for clarity. ...
This article is about courts of law. ...
Terrorism is a controversial term with multiple definitions. ...
Organized crime is crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. ...
The Constitution of Ireland is the founding legal document of the state known today as the Republic of Ireland. ...
Dáil Éireann is the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland1. ...
This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ...
This article needs cleanup. ...
Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...
The Emergency is a euphemism which was first used officially in Ireland by the Irish Government during the 1940s to refer to World War II. In government media, direct references to the war were avoided and Ireland publicly maintained a strictly neutral position (which prompted some to ask the question...
1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ...
The Troubles is a term used to describe two periods of violence in Ireland during the twentieth century. ...
Northern Ireland is an administrative region and one of four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ...
Structure
The court is composed of three judges appointed by the government from among the judges of the ordinary courts, usually one from the High Court, one from the Circuit Court and one from the District Court. The court sits as a three-judge panel with no jury, and verdicts are by majority vote. Verdicts can be appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal. The High Court of the Republic of Ireland is a court which deals at first instance with the most serious and important civil and criminal cases, and also acts as a court of appeal for civil cases in the Circuit Court. ...
Circuit courts previously were United States federal courts established in each federal judicial district. ...
District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations. ...
In 2004, Justice Minister Michael McDowell announced his intention to establish a second Special Criminal Court to speed up the trial process. 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is the senior minister at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (An Roinn Dlí agus Cirt, Comhionannais agus Athchóirithe Dlí) in the Irish Government. ...
Michael McDowell (born May, 1951) is a senior Irish Progressive Democrats politician and is currently the Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform. ...
Scheduled offences The court tries offences under the following laws: - Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875
- Explosive Substances Act 1883
- Offences against the State Act 1939
- Firearms Act 1925 to 1990
- Criminal Damage Act 1991
Offences under these acts are known as "scheduled offences". These scheduled offences range from illegal possession of firearms, to importing seditious foreign newspapers, to threatening to damage property. The court can also try other, non-scheduled offences if the Director of Public Prosecutions issues a certificate stating that the ordinary courts are inadequate to handle the case. This article is about firearms and similar devices. ...
Sedition is a deprecated term of law to refer to non-overt conduct such as speech and organization that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. ...
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several jurisdictions around the world. ...
Although the court was initially set up to handle terrorism-related crime, it has been handling more and more organized crime cases after the IRA ceasefire in the 1990s. For instance, members of the drugs gang which murdered journalist Veronica Guerin were tried in the Special Criminal Court. Veronica Guerin Veronica Guerin (July 5, 1959- June 26, 1996) was an Irish journalist who was murdered in 1996 by Irish drug dealers. ...
Criticism The Special Criminal Court has been criticized by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Among the criticisms are the lack of a jury, and the increasing use of the court to try organized "ordinary" crimes rather than the terrorist cases it was originally set up to handle. Critics also argue that the court is now obsolete since there is no longer a serious terrorist threat to the State (see: Northern Ireland peace process). Under the law, the court may accept the opinion of a Garda Síochána superintendent as evidence that a suspect is a member of an illegal organization. (However, the court has been reluctant to convict on the word of a garda alone without any corroborating evidence.) Amnesty International (or AI) is an international non-governmental organization whose stated purpose is to promote all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards. ...
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, a commission supervised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is composed of representatives from 53 member states, and meets each year in regular session in March/April for six weeks in Geneva. ...
When discussing Northern Irish history, the Peace Process is generally considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 IRA ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of The Troubles, the Belfast (or Good Friday) Agreement, and subsequent political developments. ...
A member of the motorcycle unit of the Garda Síochána. ...
The Provisional Sinn Féin political party have also been critical [1] (http://sinnfein.ie/news/detail/7950) of the Special Criminal Court, perhaps unsurprisingly since many prominent Sinn Féin members (including Martin Ferris and Martin McGuinness) have been convicted of terrorist offences by it. Provisional Sinn Féin evolved from the split in Sinn Féin and the IRA that took place in the late 1960s. ...
Martin Ferris (born 1958) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. ...
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (born May 23, 1950) is an Irish nationalist politician, and terrorist leader (as member of the IRA army council). ...
Well-known cases Most famous is the case of Nicky Kelly, who was convicted along with two other men by the Special Criminal Court in 1978 of carrying out the Sallins Train Robbery. All three convictions were later overturned after it was found that the suspects had been assaulted by gardaí while in custody. Events January January 1 - The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. ...
A member of the motorcycle unit of the Garda Síochána. ...
In 2003, Michael McKevitt was convicted of "directing terrorism" and "membership of an illegal organization" for his role as leader of the Real IRA. Omagh bomber Colm Murphy was convicted of "conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause injury" in 2001. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. ...
Michael McKevitt is the leader of the small Irish terrorist organisation, the Real IRA, which has been regarded as responsible for the Omagh bombing in the late 1990s, which killed 29 people. ...
Categories: Wikipedia cleanup | Organization stubs | Terrorist organizations in Northern Ireland | Rebellion ...
The Omagh bombing was a car bomb attack carried out by the Real IRA on August 15, 1998, against civilians in Omagh, Northern Ireland. ...
2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
See also The courts system in the Republic of Ireland consists of the Supreme Court, the High Court and a number of lower courts. ...
Northern Ireland is an administrative region and one of four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ...
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