Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations - Transitional ...

8. CRIMINAL JUSTICE
8.1 The Good Friday Agreement
In proposing a ‘wide-ranging review of criminal justice’ the Agreement listed a number of
specific aims: to deliver a fair and impartial system of justice to the community; be
responsive to the community’s concerns and encouraging community involvement where
appropriate; have the confidence of all parts of the community; and deliver justice
efficiently and effectively.
The terms of reference of the Criminal Justice Review Group included proposals
concerning the judiciary (the Agreement made no special provision for judicial reform), the
prosecution service, law reform, accountability and lay participation in the criminal justice
system. There was no specific reference to women or gender but reform could potentially
redress some of the gender imbalance inherent in the system. Since the Agreement
emphasised the relationship between community and justice this might present an
opportunity for a more inclusive role for women.
8.2 Review of the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland
The Criminal Justice Review Group was established in June 1998. The Review Group
made 294 recommendations for change across the system and issued its report in March
2000. The Government published its response in November 2001, with an
Implementation Plan and draft legislation and accepted almost all of the
recommendations. The Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 was designed to give effect
to many of the Review’s recommendations. The Government published an updated
Implementation Plan in June 2003 which set out the progress made in implementing the
recommendations, together with more detailed plans and timescales for further
implementation, and passed The Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2004. Progress on
reform has been slow and there are gaps between review, implementation plan, and
legislation, some of which saw a dilution of gender aspects of the original review.
The Review Group considered the criminal justice system in isolation and not ‘from a
broader perspective, either as part of economic activity or as part of a wider system of
social control’. 197 Nor did it note the ‘economic importance of the system for the
providers’ (a quarter of the workforce was employed either directly or indirectly in the
conflict and 10% of the budget for 2000-2001 was spent on law and order). 198 It avoided
the connection between criminal justice and social justice. This also had gender
implications – in terms of social justice for all women and in terms of equality between
classes. Justice reform was likely to impact differently on middle class and on working class
women. 199
The key areas in the review with implications for women were: equity monitoring, the
judiciary, restorative justice, community safety, and law reform.
197 Democratic Dialogue, The Criminal Justice Review - A Response, October 2000
198 Ibid.
199 ‘The behaviour which is mainly captured by the criminal justice system is committed by the unskilled and
semi-skilled working class living in some of the most deprived and demoralised communities in Northern
Ireland. Yet any expansion in the criminal justice system will create new employment opportunities for the
middle classes.’ Ibid.
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