Jacqui Durkin

Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland this week published a strategic overview of transformation in Northern Ireland’s criminal justice system.

It looked at the PSNI, the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPS), Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS), Forensic Science Northern Ireland (FSNI), the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS), Youth Justice Agency and the Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI).

Chief inspector Jacqui Durkin said: “Transforming the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland is easy to identify as a priority and aspiration but much harder to deliver.

“Over the last two decades our criminal justice system has seen investment in and delivered many service and technology enabled improvements, however it remains a complex network where the ‘wicked problems’ persist, and outcomes are fairly static.”

Despite the numerous strategies developed since the devolution of justice in April 2010, inspectors found there had been limited improvement in the performance of the criminal justice system, the experience of victims, witnesses and defendants or those working within it.

“Transformation has been too readily used as a badge for too many service or system changes, that included organisations doing solo runs because they were affordable, without meaningfully collaborating with others on their impact,” said Ms Durkin.

“What delivered an efficiency for one organisation could create a pressure elsewhere, making it imperative that a true partnership and system-wide approach to transformation and future investment is developed.”

The Criminal Justice Board has already agreed five priorities to speed up justice and are well placed to agree a shared future vision for system transformation. 

To assist with this, the chief inspector has made one strategic and two operational recommendations to support the development of a true partnership and system-wide approach to transformation and future investment.

“I believe the three recommendations included in this report when implemented can assist in achieving the change required and the delivery of a better justice system for all,” she said.

Responding to the report, justice minister Naomi Long said: “I welcome this report by Criminal Justice Inspection. The challenges experienced by the justice system are well reported and documented and I am committed to delivering improvements for the benefit of all who come into contact with the system.

“Budgetary constraints, the collapse of power-sharing and Covid have all contributed to a less agile and less responsive justice system, however improvements have been made and continue to be made.

“The Criminal Justice Board prioritisation and oversight of the Speeding Up Justice programme provides clear evidence of system wide prioritisation by senior justice leaders.

“The programme takes forward existing work on committal reform, existing and emerging work in the digital arena, and explores other areas for efficiencies such as early engagement, court remits and out of court disposals.

“Through this work we are beginning to see a reduction in end-to-end case processing times, with a median time of 190 days for 2023/24, the second yearly reduction.

“I remain committed to improving the justice experience for victims and witnesses and I have announced an extension to the Sexual Offences Legal Advisor (SOLA) scheme. This pilot scheme helps victims of serious sexual assaults navigate the criminal justice system, providing much needed support at that time.”

She added: “We need to put the citizen at the heart of the justice system and provide services that can deliver the best possible outcomes. I will therefore announce my way forward on the reform programme in the coming days, including the publication of the Judge Burgess report.”