In Northern Ireland the freedoms enshrined in Western law have been overturned by the police and the army. This book examines the emergency measures that have been introduced to "improve" the administration of justice in Northern Ireland. The book looks at specific measures, including increased powers of arrest and interrogation, the preventation of terrorism act, the operation of the no-jury Diplock courts, the use of plastic bullets, the recourse to supergrasses and the shoot to kill directives. In each case the social and political implications of emergency laws are assessed. The contributors, all of whom are professionally involved in the theory or practice of law, ask how much these measures have involved a systematic disregard of basic human rights and consider ways in which the situation might be redeemed.
