Motion or amendment: Failure to Transform the Criminal Justice System

Motion or amendment by Mr Maurice Bradley on 23 September 2025.

MLA: Mr Maurice Bradley
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 23 September 2025
Type: Motion or amendment
Business: Motion · Private Members' Motion
Heading: Failure to Transform the Criminal Justice System
Assembly identifier: Document 450685

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Text

Failure to Transform the Criminal Justice System
That this Assembly expresses concern that the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) report, Transforming the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland: A Strategic Overview, published in November 2024, found limited improvement in performance, or the experience of victims, witnesses and staff, since the devolution of policing and justice; is alarmed that this outcome was reported despite numerous strategies and policy development; notes, in particular, the increasing need to tackle the factors that contribute to delay, including long police investigations, slow prosecutorial decision-making and cases not ready to proceed at court; further notes that delay may have the perverse effect of allowing alleged serious offenders, ordinarily held on remand for the purposes of public protection, to develop a strong claim for bail, or for those remanded to be released for time served at the time of sentencing; highlights the negative impact this has on victims and wider public confidence in the criminal justice system; believes transformational change must be system-wide, rather than the product of many, often disparate, strategies or workstreams; and calls on the Minister of Justice, more than nine months on from the CJINI recommendations, to outline her action plan and timeline to reach agreement with members of the Criminal Justice Board on a shared future vision and aligned strategic priorities for improving the effectiveness of the criminal justice system without further delay.

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