An Act to make provision about the judiciary in Northern Ireland and to amend section 6 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876; to make provision about the law officers and other legal officers and the courts in Northern Ireland; to establish a Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland, a Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland and a Northern Ireland Law Commission; to amend the law of youth justice in Northern Ireland; to make provision for making available to victims of crime information about the release of offenders in Northern Ireland; to make provision about community safety in Northern Ireland; to amend the law of legal aid in Northern Ireland; and for connected purposes.
The Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 (2002 c. 26 (N.I.)) is an act devolving certain responsibilities for justice to the Northern Ireland Assembly, establishing certain institutions and establishing certain youth justice measures to implement restorative justice.
Background
In order to implement the Good Friday Agreement, responsibilities for justice were devolved[1]
The Act is the final product of the Criminal Justice Review.[2]
The Act established established a statutory aim to "protect the public by preventing offending and reoffending by children"[10] by encouraging children to "recognise the effects of crime and to take responsibility for their actions" and "furthering their personal, social and educational development"[11]
The Act establishes the role of "lay magistrate" as part of the youth justice measures[12]
The Act also transfers the power to remove or suspend a person holding a listed judicial office, so that it is now exercisable by the Lord Chief Justice.[13] At the time, there was some discomfort with the concept of "lay magistrate" among justices of the peace.[14]
The youth justice measures have two types of disposal:[15]
diversionary conference: referred by the public prosecution service
court-ordered conference
Reception
The use of community sentences and youth conferences reduced the rate of reoffending.[10]
The use of youth conferencing has been described as restorative justice.[16]
^ abCase, Stephen; Johnson, Philip; Manlow, David; Smith, Roger S.; Williams, Katherine S. (2017). "The criminal justice system in Northern Ireland". Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-873675-2.
^"Welcome". Attorney General for Northern Ireland. Archived from the original on 2022-06-10. Retrieved 2024-10-03.