Measuring devolution
Almost one year on from the devolution of policing and justice, agendaNi looks at its progress to date.
The devolution of policing and justice brought responsibility for most aspects of law and order to the new Department for Justice. In the nine months since devolution in April 2010 David Ford has introduced his first Justice Bill and presided over 10 consultations.
The Justice Bill passed its second reading in the Assembly on 2 November 2010 and proposes an offender levy to finance a victims’ fund, the integration of community safety and district policing partnerships, and means testing those applying for legal aid.
In addition, reviews are being carried out into prisons and the youth justice system. However, the mistaken release of three prisoners and a dirty protest by republican prisoners at Maghaberry prison have challenged the fledgling department and its Minister.
It is true that there were 3,700 less recorded crimes from April to November 2010 compared to the same seven months in the previous year but crime rates depend on many factors. During 2009-2010 there were also two security related deaths, shooting incidents increased from 25 to 54, bombings from 46 to 50 and paramilitary shootings from 26 to 46. Paramilitary assaults also increased from 41 to 81.
Professor Shadd Maruna, Director of the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Queen’s University argues that: “The success of any justice system cannot be measured by crime reduction alone.”
In his opinion, “justice is meant to serve expressive purposes as well as instrumental ones.” He tells agendaNi: “A well functioning justice system is one that is widely perceived as legitimate, fair and just by all sectors of society – even prisoners.”
Maruna sees the devolution of policing and justice to the Executive as “a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity for reinventing justice.”
He adds: “It is a chance to ask the public what they want out of justice and to make the system much more responsive to those needs.”
The current root-and-branch reviews of Northern Ireland’s “not-fit-for-purpose” prison system and the treatment of young people by the justice system “are just two examples of long-overdue changes already happening,” Maruna believes.
Olwen Lyner, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO), agrees.
“Not only are these [reviews] necessary [and] could lead to change for the better, the Minister has been flexible in his management of them.”
The justice department should have three priorities, according to Lyner.
These are:
• a collaborative criminal justice system where there is consensus about the purpose of the system and resources are directed into resettlement;
• ensuring that all departments recognise that they have “a huge part to play”; and
• influencing public attitudes by ensuring the media present an accurate picture of the criminal justice system based on the facts and “good solid research.”
Policing and justice was devolved to Scotland in 1999. The Scottish Prisons Commission acknowledges that “Scotland locks up more of its people than most other places in Europe.” Despite the high rate of imprisonment, 74 per cent of offenders who serve short sentences in Scottish prisons end up committing another crime within two years.
Lyner and other NGOs have spoken to the Minister about the “clear warnings” from the Scottish example. “There are new bureaucratic and punitive institutions and procedures, a rising moral panic fuelled by politicians and the media, and an emerging battle for the heart and soul of criminal justice policy between practitioners and politicians,” she explains.
For comparison, in 2008 there were 88 prisoners per 100,000 population in Northern Ireland, 153 in England and Wales, 152 in Scotland and 76 in the Republic of Ireland.
