The Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre (JJC) in Bangor has been described as the “jewel in the crown” of Northern Ireland’s criminal justice system by inspectors.

A new report from the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) finds a child-centred ethos in place at the JJC and concludes that good progress has been made towards implementing four strategic recommendations for improvement made in 2015.

However, it also voiced concern over a sharp increase in the proportion of children admitted to the centre from a Catholic background.

More than three-quarters (76 per cent) of children admitted to the centre in 2016/17 were from a Catholic background, an increase of 19 per cent compared to the figures in 2013/14.

Brendan McGuigan, chief inspector of criminal justice in Northern Ireland, said: “The JJC is without doubt, the jewel in the crown for the Youth Justice Agency and Department of Justice and is a centre which is the envy of neighbouring jurisdictions.

“It is a facility which has made steady progress despite funding and staffing reductions which have occurred.

“With the development of early intervention and diversionary programmes there are now fewer children entering the criminal justice system. But for those young people who are required to be detained in a secure setting, the JJC provides an effective means of keeping them safe while delivering a progressive, child-centred regime.”

However, he added that that was important for management to “understand the reasons” for the disparity in numbers of children admitted from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds.

He encouraged management to “work with other statutory agencies including the police, prosecution and court services, to seek to understand why this is happening and how it can be addressed.”

He also reiterated his call from 2015 for the Youth Justice Agency to work with its statutory partners to reduce the number of children being “inappropriately committed to custody” on a short-term basis under both Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) proceedings and from a ‘Looked After’ residential care background.