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

8.3 Equity Monitoring 200
There are two strands to equity monitoring the criminal justice system: (a) monitoring the
make-up of those who work in the system, the human resources and (b) monitoring the
profile of other stakeholders - those who come into contact with the criminal justice
system.
8.3.1 Human Resources 201
• On average, 7 out of 10 people working within the criminal justice system are
male.
• Females are more likely to work in large administrative bodies in the Northern
Ireland criminal justice system – the Court Service, the Northern Ireland
Office, the Probation Board and as civilian support staff employed by PSNI.
• The members of the Law Society are 64% male and 36% female; the Bar
Association membership is 74% male and 26% female; 3 out of 58 Queens
Counsel are women; PSNI police officers are 85% male and 15% female.
• 86% of full-time permanent members of the judiciary and 83% of the deputy
judiciary are male. There are no women High Court judges; 2 out of 15 County
Court judges are female; two out of four District Court Judges and 2 out of 19
Resident magistrates are women. Of the 142 lay panel members, 76 (54%) are
women (lay panellists are involved in youth courts, family proceedings courts
or civil issues relating to the welfare, custody, care and protection of children).
204 (22%) of Justices of the Peace are women.
• Northern Ireland Court Service has 723 members of staff: 461 (64%) are
female and 262 (36%) are male.
• Most senior posts in the criminal justice system are held by men.
• Public appointments to Criminal Justice Bodies – female representation: The
Policing Board (11%); the Juvenile Justice Board (33%); the Probation Board
(44%); Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (44%).
The gendered work pattern of the system was noted by the Review Group: women ‘are
generally well represented in the ‘non-operational’ parts of the criminal justice system’,
although not in the higher managerial positions. 202 This non-operational/ glass ceiling
phenomenon is particularly problematic in a state which has high-level public sector
employment. Moreover, the visibility of the criminal justice system has knock-on effects
on other sectors and the perceived status of women’s work. The Review recommended a
‘proactive strategy for securing a reflective workforce in all parts of the system’, 203 but
there is no consideration of how that might be achieved in respect of women (or
Catholics).
200 Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 in Britain states that the Home Secretary 'shall in each year
publish such information as he considers expedient for the purpose of:
a) enabling persons engaged in the administration of criminal justice to become aware of the financial
implications of their decisions; or
b) facilitating the performance of such persons of their duty to avoid discriminating against any persons on
the ground of race or sex or any other improper ground.'
Northern Ireland has the same monitoring provisions - Section 56 of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland)
Order 1996 is based word for word on Section 95. In addition to the clauses quoted above, Section 56 states
that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 'may make rules regulating the collection of information'
under the Section. There is little evidence, however that Section 56 was used for equity monitoring.
Democratic Dialogue, The Criminal Justice Review - A Response, October 2000
201 Northern Ireland Office, Gender and the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice System, 2002
202 Review of the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland, 1 March 2000, para 3.34
203 Ibid. recommendation no. 3
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