Jul 20, 2010 3
The Criminal Law (Defence and the Dwelling) Bill 2010
Yesterday saw a flurry of activity in the area of criminal justice, with the publication of the new Victim’s Charter and the signing into law of the Criminal Procedure Act 2010. Both of these developments will be examined in future posts. Today’s blog deals with the most newsworthy piece of draft legislation announced in the past 12 months: the Criminal Law (Defence and the Dwelling) Bill 2010.
This Bill has been long in gestation, with previous versions mooted by the government in 2007 and by Fine Gael in 2009. The Law Reform Commission published a lengthy and comprehensive Report late last year dealing with Criminal Defences generally. Readers might remember I blogged about the LRC’s Report when it was published, highlighting what I saw as the gap between the Report’s recommendations about legitimate defence in the home, and the overly broad wording of the draft bill attached to the Report.
According to the Department’ s press release the Criminal Law (Defence and the Dwelling) Bill 2010 makes provision for the following:
· definitions for such terms as “dwelling”, “property” and the “curtilage” of the dwelling.
· the extent to which justifiable force may be used against an intruder.
· that the use of justifiable force against an intruder with criminal intent would not exclude the use of force causing death
· the absence of a requirement on the part of an occupier to retreat when defending the dwelling or the people in it against an intruder entering with criminal intent.
· that a person who uses such force as is permitted by the Bill will not be liable in tort in respect of any injury, loss or damage arising from such force.
The Bill also states that where justifiable force (see below) is used, that force does not exclude the use of lethal force against an intruder.
