Review: Supergrasses: A Study in Anti-Terrorist Law Enforcement in Northern Ireland
| DOI | 10.1177/136571279700100307 |
| Date | 01 July 1997 |
| Published date | 01 July 1997 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Steven
Greer
IRELAND
Oxford:
Clarendon
Press
(1995),
xv
+
309
pp.
hb.
f35
SUPERGRASSES:
A
STUDY
IN
ANTI-TERRORIST
LAW
ENFORCEMENT
IN
NORTHERN
The investigation and prosecution of terrorism in Northern Ireland is fertile
ground for research, given the existence of policing and trial methods which
appear to subordinate due process values to those
of
crime control. Together
with others, such as Jackson and Doran’s study of the Diplock Court system
u.
Jackson and
S.
Doran.Judge WithoutJury:
Diplock
Trials
in
the Adversary System,
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1995).
this
is
a timely study. It examines the
function of one particular method of anti-terrorist law enforcement widely
employed in the early
1980s.
the supergrass system. The primary material
which the author draws upon in his analysis is taken from written court
judgments and press clippings, supplemented by interviews with some of
those involved in the supergrass trials, such as defence lawyers (though,
unsurprisingly. he was unable to secure interviews with supergrasses
themselves). These various sources are pulled together to form a series of
interesting case narratives, documenting the rise and fall of the supergrass
system in Northern Ireland. The inclusion of information relating to the
background of individual supergrasses and their entry into the world of
terrorism, together with detailed accounts of the history of each case and the
conduct of the trial, allows the reader to absorb a good deal of what might
otherwise be dry legalistic material with relative ease.
The book begins by examining the nature of the supergrass. In contrast to the
use of ordinary police informers or agents provocateurs. the supergrass system
is open to some public scrutiny, as
it
allows the results
of
complex
intelligence gathering to be presented in court for the purpose
of
convicting
suspected terrorist offenders. However, there are multiple dangers in the
system: the supergrasses themselves have usually committed serious and
violent crime, making the pressure to concoct a story sufficiently appealing
THE INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
OF
EWDENCE
8
PROOF
171
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