Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 15 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Paul Frew

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

15 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5614750

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Member for that. I agree with her: we all need to do it better. Every Department needs to do it better, because the world is getting worse out there. The digital age is making it worse, but, physically, it is getting worse for our children. I have not been reassured yet that anything that we have in place through social services can make a profound difference to what we are trying to achieve here. I believe that you would create a chasm by moving the age of criminal responsibility. The Youth Justice Agency does a tremendous job, but it cannot do it all. What we need is a system involving Education, Health, social services, Communities and everything else that wraps around the criminal justice system and allows us to better inform the criminal justice system in order to better protect not just victims but child perpetrators. I think that we can all agree on that. Saying that we can simply change the age of criminal responsibility here tonight without having any of that substance in place is just frilly words in a very dark world.

Yes.

I thank the Member for her contribution. She is quite right. I have been involved in keeping children out of the criminal justice system and working with the police to ensure that they do not get a criminal record. I have been through restorative justice programmes that have resulted in a decent outcome for the perpetrator and the victim that the victim was satisfied with. That is all work that takes place in our criminal justice system currently. As has been mentioned, we are in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I really worry about the step that the Assembly could take tonight, which could jeopardise victims and young people. I ask Members to be very careful about how they proceed.

I was going to talk about Professor Kevin Brown. He thinks that the minimum age of criminal responsibility should rise but says that he is concerned about the listed crimes, and here is why:

"The list may also affect how cases are resolved in practice. Criminal cases do not always proceed only on the most serious charge originally contemplated. Pleas to lesser offences can sometimes provide a more proportionate outcome. But if a 12- or 13-year-old can only be guilty of the proposed listed offences, the ordinary possibility of accepting a plea to a lesser sexual offence may be unavailable. That could make some cases unnecessarily binary: either prosecute for a very serious listed offence, or remove the case from criminal liability altogether. In cases involving children on both sides, that rigidity may fail to do justice either to the child accused of causing harm or to the child who has been harmed."

I will finish the quote, then I will give way. Professor Brown continues:

"The choice of sexual offences also has consequences beyond prosecution itself. In Northern Ireland, convictions for relevant sexual offences can trigger notification requirements, and sexual offending can also interact with preventative order regimes designed to manage future risk. The proposed amendment therefore does not simply decide which 12- and 13-year-olds may be prosecuted. It may also affect whether the ancillary public protection framework is available, and on what basis. That makes the boundaries of the sexual offences' exception especially important."

By raising the age of criminal responsibility without having in place a suitable and robust framework that brings accountability and satisfaction for victims and child perpetrators, we are in danger of distorting the justice process for the young perpetrator. Not only that: we are in danger of distorting the public protection arrangements Northern Ireland (PPANI). That is how serious it is. I will take an intervention from anyone who wants to address the PPANI issue. How will those offences be recorded? What will they be recorded as? Those are very serious matters. I will give way to Mr O'Toole.

The Member will have heard me state that Professor Kevin Brown believes that the age should be raised. I do not dispute that, but Professor Brown raises serious questions: someone who is on that side of the argument raises real and valid concerns about the list of offences, and we must take that into consideration. If a person is in court and processed for one of those listed offences, will they be able to plead to a lesser offence? What will happen if they do? The first question is whether they can do it: can they plead to a lesser offence? The justice process basically entitles them to do so. If they do plead to a lesser offence, will they walk from court?

781 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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