Justice Minister has welcomed the allocation of
an additional £23m to progress much needed reforms within the
justice system.
£20.45m has been allocated to help speed up and transform the
criminal justice system and £2.19m has been allocated to an
electronic monitoring project.
The Minister said: “Tackling delay is a
key priority for me and this additional funding will go some way
to reducing avoidable delay across the justice
system. The speeding up and transforming
the criminal justice proposal aims to change the model of
delivery for criminal justice, reducing delay and maximising
efficiencies.
“Ensuring cases are dealt with appropriately and
proportionately, gives a clear public message that crime is dealt
with quickly and effectively. Speeding up justice and
reducing delays puts the victims and witnesses at the heart of
the justice system, giving them swift resolutions and reducing
the angst that inevitably comes with prolonged cases. Swift
justice should also act as a deterrent to those who seek to
engage in crime and will ultimately contribute to safer
communities.”
Partners across the justice system, including PPS and PSNI, have
already prioritised a programme of work to reduce delay and the
new funding will enable essential work to be progressed to reduce
demand on the justice system.
The £20.4m across five years will enable essential work to be
progressed in two areas:
- Early Engagement (working with PSNI, prosecution and defence
to maximise early engagement, promoting effective case
progression and earlier resolution of cases proceeding through
the formal court system); and
- Out of Court Disposals – building on existing work to date to
reduce demand on the system through the use of non-court
outcomes, this work will continue to develop mechanisms to look
at how a greater number of lower-level cases could be dealt with
more appropriately and efficiently outside of the formal court
system.
On electronic monitoring, the Minister said: “The
additional funding of £2.19m for electronic tagging will
allow my department to transform the way in which it
monitors individuals released into the community. Aspects
under consideration include the implementation of a GPS location
monitoring for those on bail or on licence fitted with an
electronic tag (as part of their release conditions). This
enhanced monitoring could be used to strengthen bail conditions,
probation orders, or prison release conditions and will provide
accurate real-time monitoring of offenders.”
GPS technology is already in use across England and Wales with
plans under development in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland
to consider the implementation of GPS monitoring in electronic
tagging. Internationally, GPS/location monitoring is a
well-established practice in North America, South America, Europe
and Australia.
