Posts tagged ‘Justice’
Justice: Safety without walls
Friday, March 11th, 2011Peter Cheney reviews the Justice Minister’s plans for community safety, including fewer walls on the interfaces. Interface communities who want to remove barriers will get help from government, under the Department of Justice’s draft community safety strategy. Forty-seven barriers were ‘inherited’ from the NIO and the term peace walls “appears increasingly outdated”. The emphasis on sharing is the most innovative part of the document. All public services also have a responsibility to provide “shared spaces” where people can congregate without the threat of aggressive...[full story]
Justice: Policy summary
Friday, January 28th, 2011Ten months after most justice and policing powers were devolved to the Assembly, agendaNi considers the main parties’ commitments from their manifestos. Policy on national security, illicit drugs and counter-terrorism is controlled by Westminster. Alliance Justice Minister: David Ford MLA Justice and Human Rights Spokesman: Stephen Farry MLA When Alliance took on the portfolio on devolution in April 2010, David Ford argued that a shake-up of the system was needed to ensure “fair justice for all”. In 2007, Alliance described a fundamental relationship between democracy,...[full story]
Justice: Attorney-General – a case for reform?
Friday, January 28th, 2011Peter Cheney reviews the Attorney-General’s work to date and considers the potential for more powers. While John Larkin has kept a low public profile since his appointment as Attorney- General, on 25 May last year, his role is a significant addition to the devolved system of government. A local individual is now the Executive’s chief legal advisor and guarding the public interest for the first time in nearly 40 years. Northern Ireland had 11 Attorneys-General between 1921 and 1972, starting with Richard Best and ending with Basil Kelly. Upon direct rule, the post passed to the Attorney-General...[full story]
Justice: Measuring devolution
Friday, January 28th, 2011Almost one year on from the devolution of policing and justice, agendaNi looks at its progress to date. The devolution of policing and justice brought responsibility for most aspects of law and order to the new Department for Justice. In the nine months since devolution in April 2010 David Ford has introduced his first Justice Bill and presided over 10 consultations. The Justice Bill passed its second reading in the Assembly on 2 November 2010 and proposes an offender levy to finance a victims’ fund, the integration of community safety and district policing partnerships, and means...[full story]
Justice: Policing and rights
Friday, January 28th, 2011Basil McCrea updates agendaNi on the Policing Board’s work on human rights and professional standards. Far from being an abstract idea, human rights can be practically applied in policing on the ground. Human rights is not a foreign or ultra- liberal concept, according to Basil McCrea. The UUP MLA, who chairs the Policing Board’s Human Rights and Professional Standards Committee, points out that British parliamentarians helped to draw up the European Convention on Human Rights after World War Two. Winston Churchill was among its early supporters. McCrea states that human rights is...[full story]
Justice: Reviewing prisons
Friday, January 28th, 2011Northern Ireland’s prisons are too focused on controlling rather than changing inmates, according to several critical reports. Peter Cheney summarises the ongoing prison review and looks at why reform has been held up. Prison policy was, for many years, inseparable from the Troubles. The hunger strikes and the early releases after the Good Friday Agreement turned the media’s attention on the Maze. Thirty prison officers and other staff have been killed due to their work, with many others injured or threatened. Now, in changed times, the Prison Service is under pressure to reform,...[full story]
Justice: Youth justice reviewed
Friday, January 28th, 2011Youth justice in Northern Ireland is currently being reviewed. Emma Blee reports on the key issues to be addressed. The age that children are held legally accountable for crime and the way they are treated within the justice system are being examined as part of a major review. Last February’s Hillsborough Agreement set out plans to review “how children and young people are processed at all stages of the criminal justice system, including detention, to ensure compliance with international obligations and best practice”. In Northern Ireland, England and Wales, the age of criminal...[full story]
Justice: Inside restorative justice
Friday, January 28th, 2011Introduced as an alternative to paramilitary punishments, restorative justice schemes are often the first port-of-call for working class communities that still remain wary of the PSNI. Meadhbh Monahan reports. “There is an appetite to bring paramilitarism back,” warns Debbie Watters. She is the project manager for the Greater Shankill branch of Northern Ireland Alternatives, one of five community-based restorative justice schemes operating in loyalist areas in Belfast and Bangor. Watters tells agendaNi: “The view is that when the boys were sorting it out, a lid was kept on [crime]...[full story]
Justice: Policing the border
Friday, January 28th, 2011agendaNi reviews the PSNI and Garda’s cross-border policing strategy. Introducing their joint strategy in December, PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott and then Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy explained that “many instances of terrorism, serious and organised crime, and local crime have been prevented” by sharing information, intelligence and joint operations. “This has, undoubtedly saved lives, while ensuring those involved in such activity are identified and brought to justice,” said Murphy. Baggott added that in the current security and economic climate it is “even more...[full story]
Justice: Avoidable delay
Friday, January 28th, 2011Delays in the criminal justice system are adding extra pressure to victims, witnesses and defendants. agendaNi analyses the extent of the problem and how it can be resolved. Despite major efforts to tackle avoidable delay, the length of time it takes the justice system to process people through court here is still considerably longer than that of England and Wales, according to a report on the subject. Statistics from the Public Prosecution Service show that in 2009-2010, out of a possible 75,887 cases, 21,654 ended with no prosecution. Some 20,059 of these did not proceed because they...[full story]
