Debate contribution: Speech and Language Therapy: Criminal Justice System

Debate contribution by Mr Doug Beattie MC on 20 February 2024.

MLA

Mr Doug Beattie MC

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

20 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Speech and Language Therapy: Criminal Justice System

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4380809

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

In opening this debate on speech and language therapy in the criminal justice system, I need to acknowledge two things. First, I thank the Justice Minister for coming along to respond to the debate. I wish her well in her role. I do not envy her, but she will certainly have my support. Secondly, I want to be absolutely clear that this is not an issue solely for the Justice Department. In fact, it covers so many different Departments. It is a Health issue, because it is the Health Department that provides the speech and language therapists to give the outcomes that we require. It is also an Education issue, because if we do not find the trouble early on with our children, that stores up troubles for later on. It is an issue for Economy, because, in our education system, we do not have enough undergraduate places for speech and language training. Of course, it is an issue for Finance, because if we do not get the finance, we do not have the resource and cannot provide the outcomes that we need. I hope that, in the debate, other Members will outline some of those points, because it is important to realise that the issue does not sit only on the shoulders of the Justice Minister. I am talking about the criminal justice system and the youth justice system, and that is where the focus is. However, there is so much to it. Communication skills are a central plank of social inclusion for a number of reasons. The first is expression. Expressions are used to make ourselves understood. You all know what it is like and the frustration that you feel if you cannot make yourself understood. Next is comprehension, which is our ability to understand what is being said to us. If we do not understand what is being said to us, it can lead to poor outcomes. The next reason is social communication, which is how to speak to different people in the right way at the right time. I think that we all take that a little bit for granted, but we should not. Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a lifelong condition that is characterised by significant and persistent impairment in understanding the use of language. That goes back to the point that I am making. When we talk about developmental language disorder, we are talking about something that appears at a very early age in our youth. It is not something that just happens when young people get into the criminal justice system. It happens beforehand, when they are at school. That just expands the point so that people understand. A study on the youth justice system found that, of 145 young offenders, three in five had DLD. In 2023, a screening of a sample population of Hydebank Wood Secure College found that 75% of those assessed had underlying speech, language and communication difficulties. The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust conducted that screening, which very much outlines the problem that we face in the youth justice system. It means that many of those young people simply do not understand the terms of their sentence or what is required of them in court orders or under licence. We have young people ending up in the youth justice system finding themselves at its disposal but not understanding it, and because they do not understand it, they end up reoffending. Some 62% of people with DLD reoffended, and 25% who did not have DLD reoffended, so there is a real difference there. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists asked for a three-pronged approach. The first prong is to screen everyone entering the criminal justice system for speech and language difficulties. That is no easy task. It is a huge task, because we have a limited number of speech and language therapists. We have only 28 undergraduate places per year at Ulster University, and 10 of those are provided by the Irish Government, so we are likely to lose those people once they have qualified. That number comes from an application pool of 700. Therefore, there is a need to train people. We cannot do the screening unless we have the people. The screening could, and possibly should, act as a mitigating factor when judges review sentences. However, once an individual enters a prison estate or probation in a sentence-management plan, they should have a personal development record outlining the very issues that they face. The second part of the approach is training. The judiciary needs to be trained to understand DLD and other speech and language issues. That could help them to understand the problem when youth offenders go in front of them. Prison officers must be trained from an early stage, as should probation officers, to understand the effects of speech and language difficulties.

That is a really good point. It is about that joined-up approach that I am making the point. As I said at the start and will continue to say, this is not just for Justice; it is far wider than Justice. You are right, and thank you for the intervention. The speech and language difficulties can create challenging behaviour. There may be disruptive, violent or aggressive behaviour; self-harm; poor mental health; segregation; and the increased use of physical restraint and intervention. We need to train to prevent that. Support is the third element of the three-pronged approach. Direct speech and language therapy and intervention should be provided for those in the criminal justice system, particularly the youth justice system. That is provided by the Department of Health, but there must be a structured intervention combined with the screening and training functions. It is about providing support to transform. The advantages of having speech and language therapists in the justice system are extremely clear. Speech and language therapists have an increased knowledge and understanding of the barriers to engagement and can help with communication, which helps staff. Speech and language therapists help those with needs to better understand what is happening to them. People fall into the criminal justice system. They may find themselves at someone's disposal and simply not understand it. It is important that we work with them so that they understand what is happening to them. The other clear advantage is for society. Speech and language therapist interventions can reduce offending by enabling individuals in the criminal justice system to access a wide range of rehabilitation programmes, which empowers change. It is about empowering the young people who find themselves at the wrong end of the law. I will revert back to the very start. I have repeated time and again, as others have and will, that this is not just for the Justice Department; it really starts from the bottom up.

Absolutely. Your point is about prevention. It is always better to prevent than to deal with the aftermath. I am 100% with you on that. As I come to the end of outlining the motion, I will say that being proactive is important. It is important that Departments share and pool budgets to get the outcome that we want. We can literally save people and money if we act early, before people end up in the criminal justice system. Once people are in the criminal justice system, it is incredibly important that we take action to stop them reoffending so that we can get them out the other end. Speech and language therapists do not get the credit that they deserve. They are not spoken about as often as they should be. The resources are not there for them to provide the outcomes that we want them to. I hope that, today, we can change that, and that other Departments can look to see what they can do, in a joined-up manner, to move this forward and support our Justice Minister in respect of the youth justice system and criminal justice system. At the end of the day, society will gain if that happens.

1,343 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:40 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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