Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Peter Martin on 16 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Peter Martin

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

16 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5624716

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Minister for her intervention, and I agree with her. We do not want to traumatise those young people any more than their background already has. However, I will make this point to her. As she well knows, Woodlands holds a very small number of young people — about 40 to 48 — and it is never full. However, the young people who are in Woodlands have committed some very serious crimes, some of which are very violent crimes. As such, whilst they are assured of getting the support that I mentioned earlier, they are also held in a secure facility. That is the right place for them, because they could be a danger to not only themselves but society. That is why we have that facility. We have talked about the victims. As I listen to some of the speeches in the Chamber, I nearly think that some Members are saying that, when one of these crimes happens, everyone is a victim: the person who commits the crime and the person against whom the crime is committed. That cannot be the case. Let us go back to the original premise. We are talking about a child of 13, who could have been found to have committed a crime of grievous bodily harm, which is one of the most serious crimes on the statute book. If the age was raised, they would not be placed in a secure facility, even though that secure facility would do all that it could to support them. At present, at least they would be in that secure facility in the first place. When we look at this matter, we have to protect society and make sure that that young person does not recommit the crime because they are free on our streets.

I have listened very carefully to other arguments. We have talked a lot about human rights, progressiveness and a rights-based approach. In the middle of all of this, we need to centre ourselves on the victims of very serious crimes. The perpetrators should be in a secure facility, such as Woodlands. I do not know how you would start to explain to the parents of a young girl or a young boy who has been subjected to one of the crimes that is not on the excepted list that, a highly traumatic and extremely damaging event, there is no recourse for them; that no crime had actually been committed; and that, because the young person is 12 or 13, they can't commit a crime. The more I that thought about it, I thought about what my approach, as a father of three children, would be if one of my children were subjected to grievous bodily harm by a group of 13-year-old boys. As a father, I would struggle if a police officer came to my door and told me that one of my sons or my daughter had been subjected to a really violent attack and were in hospital, possibly fighting for their life, but that no prosecutable crime had been committed, because the assailants were 13. My son or daughter is in the Ulster Hospital, perhaps fighting for their life, and I have a policeman at my door telling me that no crime has been committed and that the young boys or girls responsible will be free. They may have some level of support, which I am not going to demean — there was a lot of that last night. They may get restorative justice, but my son or daughter is in the Ulster Hospital, and they have not committed a crime. I want the Members who sponsored that amendment to stand up — I am happy to give any one of them the Floor — and explain what they would say to the parents of that child in the Ulster Hospital when the policeman has explained to them that no crime has been committed and the perpetrators cannot be prosecuted. I do not have an answer to that, but I am more than happy to sit down if one of the proposers of the amendment wants to stand up and explain what they would do if they were the policeman at the door, and how they would explain to the parents what had happened and why those 13-year-old boys had committed no crime.

I will.

727 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:56 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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