Fair Cop

Dissident Republicans from Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) have called an amnesty on 20 men in the Belfast area under threat of attack.

A fourth man has been sentenced at Belfast Crown Court today in relation to a 'paramilitary style shooting' in the St James area of West Belfast in July 2010.

Regular readers of Fair Cop will know that we have been working with Public Achievement's WIMPS (Where Is My Public Servant?) project to raise public consciousness around the issue of so-called paramilitary 'punishment attacks'. 

Young people from Public Achievement's WIMPS (Where Is My Public Servant?) project have been campaigning to end so-called 'punishment attacks', and Una Crossen from the group challenged the Chief Constable at a public meeting of the Board, due to the very poor clearance rates (4%) for these crimes - revealed following a Freedom of Information request by Faircop.

A mother speaks out on Faircop.org - about the brutal attack that left her son with a permanent injury and deep psychological consequences for him and his family.  In her interview, Anna Munster bravely calls for an end to this barbaric practice.

Karen - a young activist from Public Achievement's WIMPS (Where is My Public Servant?) project, recently interviewed Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey before the elections and he suggested that he supported punishment beatings (or shootings) at one point.

The PSNI have only managed to clear up 4% of violent assaults known as ‘punishment beatings’ and ‘shootings.’

Paul Smyth, Director of youth focused charity, Public Achievement, writes about the ongoing scourge of so-called 'punishment attacks' and asks - are we ignoring the brutalisation of young people by our communities?