Debate contribution: Courts: Trials of the Facts
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 19 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Courts: Trials of the Facts
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5795786
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The review is intended to examine whether the orders available to the courts provide adequate protection for the public. That includes considering whether sex offender notification requirements and other safeguarding measures should apply following findings involving acts that would otherwise constitute serious sexual offences. The review will also consider whether the system is open to abuse and whether defendants have fair access to those procedures, irrespective of social background. It will further examine whether a modernised legal test is needed and how defendants can be supported to participate effectively. The position of Magistrates' Courts and Youth Courts is expressly included, as is unfitness arising from physical disability and mental disorder.
110 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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