Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Ms Cara Hunter on 16 June 2026.

MLA: Ms Cara Hunter
Party at the time: Social Democratic and Labour Party
Date: 16 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5625174

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will do my best this evening to be brief. First, I thank Members for the passion that they have demonstrated over the past number of days. It is quite remarkable to see the level of stamina that exists in the House and the depth and detail of some of the amendments. Even in the late hour, so much passion has been shown around the House. We might not always agree, but it is interesting to hear the level of debate, even in the late evening. I will move now to group 7. I am mindful that I do not sit on the Justice Committee, but I recently met a remarkable young woman called Faith, who launched a support group called Not JustUs, which is based here in Northern Ireland. It was founded by Faith after, sadly, she was the victim of being injured by a car. It was a very distressing incident for her, and she founded Not JustUs to talk about restorative justice and to help victims to rebuild their sense of trust and restore hope after they have been the victim of a crime. The real importance here around restorative justice is about communication between victims and offenders. It is about ensuring that victims feel empowered and that their voices are heard but also allowing and helping offenders to understand the harm that they have caused. I will keep my remarks focused on the two areas that are affected by amendments in the group. First, on the amendment to transfer powers from the Secretary of State to the Minister of Justice to allow the Minister to take decisions on the accreditation of restorative justice practitioners and to widen the provision by allowing non-statutory organisations and independent practitioners to become accredited, the SDLP welcomes the transfer of those powers and feels strongly that it is long overdue.
Policing and justice powers were devolved many years ago, and we believe that the amendments are another welcome step along that same road to having local accountability. The SDLP hopes that reform of the process for appointing the Minister of Justice will soon follow. That having been said, there are concerns about some of the practical aspects of the provisions and their planned roll-out. As an MLA for a rural constituency, I will highlight the potential impact on rural areas. Many areas across the North, particularly in rural constituencies, have little to no access to restorative justice. In addition, the Committee heard during its scrutiny of the Bill the Department's view that future levels of accreditation in those areas remain unknown, so further work will be needed.
There are also concerns about the need to ensure that there is appropriate training for practitioners so that the delivery of restorative justice services is safe and of a high quality. The independence of the pre-accreditation process was questioned, and the Committee asked whether Criminal Justice Inspection would undertake regular reviews. When the powers are brought under local accountability, it is vital that there be appropriate checks and balances to ensure that there is consistent access to high-quality restorative justice services right across the North. I will move on to the second policy area covered by the amendments in the group. The amendments will make changes to the rehabilitation periods for existing convictions, allow more convictions to be capable of becoming spent and create an order-making power to enable the Department to establish a review mechanism for additional convictions. The Committee heard concerns about the need to ensure that appropriate safeguarding is maintained, alongside the balancing of public protection and personal rights. There were also calls for the development of a review mechanism to allow a person on whom a sentence had been imposed for a conviction to apply for an order. It is disappointing that, even though the Department saw the merit in developing a future review mechanism, that will be subject to the availability of resources and other competing requirements. Despite those concerns, the SDLP welcomes the amendments in those two policy areas. They represent progress on local accountability, the consistent delivery of restorative justice and improvements in the approach to rehabilitating offenders. The SDLP supports both aims.

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

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