Debate contribution: Criminal Justice System: Failure to Transform
Debate contribution by Mrs Ciara Ferguson on .
- MLA
- Mrs Ciara Ferguson
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 6 October 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Criminal Justice System: Failure to Transform
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5157438
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. First, I acknowledge the core point that the Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice here made in November 2024:
"“If there ever was a time for more cohesion and shared priorities it is now."
We all know the pressures on our justice system, and the pressures on delivering timely access to justice are well known. As of the week ending 19 September, our total prison population was 2,102. That is over 200 higher than the comparative total for last year. Our overall average daily prison population, average daily custody population and remand population have all increased by over 10% on the previous year's data, and 40% of our prison population are in prison without having stood trial or received a conviction. Our case-processing times remain concerning, with the average time for a charge case to be dealt with at the Crown Court being 542 days in 2024-25 and 630 days where the case relates to a sexual offence. To deliver transformational change in justice, goodwill is not enough. A focus on internal improvements in our justice partners is not enough. We need our justice partners to no longer operate and make decisions independently. That is not good enough. Siloed working will only ever be capable of delivering the status quo. However, the transformational change of our justice system is not just within the remit of our Justice Department and justice partners; it is the responsibility of every Department and will require a collective, coherent and coordinated approach in conjunction with our justice agencies, organisations and legal representatives. I therefore commend the Programme for Government commitment to:
"have an Executive agreed approach to reducing offending and reoffending, contributing to delivering improved outcomes for those who engage with the justice system".
Our reoffending rate stands at 17·4% and has remained largely static at 16% to 18% over the past decade. There have been some excellent projects for reducing reoffending rates and easing some of the pressure on the justice system, which I welcome, such as a pilot rehabilitation project with the Nexus crisis de-escalation service for survivors of domestic abuse. We have had innovative prison rehabilitation projects with community benefits, a cross-departmental commitment to addressing chronic homelessness and strengthening restorative justice efforts through projects such as Complex Lives. Those are welcome developments. As members of the Justice Committee, we have witnessed the expansion of remote evidence centres and advances in technology using live links to courts. We have had upskirting and cyberflashing laws coming into effect and the launch earlier this year of an advice scheme for child sexual abuse victims. We need to work further to deliver a much stronger child-centred justice system, but, as the report acknowledges, some fantastic work has been done by the Youth Justice Agency.
Yes.
I agree with the Member. I have heard many parents talk about the accessibility of support in the community and say that support in our Prison Service is more readily available. As the Minister will be well aware, I have submitted questions to her on a Barnahus model for the North, which would bring together a multidisciplinary team of professionals from health, justice, education and child welfare all under the one roof to prevent re-traumatisation and enhance access to justice for children. Additionally, we all know too well the significant links between adverse childhood experiences and offending, as evidenced in the landmark study that was published at the beginning of the year. I want to emphasise that it is important for Departments such as Communities, Health and Education to work collectively with our Justice Department and the range of partners in the justice sector, because, given their remit, they have a significant role to play in breaking the cycle of crime and disadvantage. We all have important work ongoing with the Justice Bill, which includes proposals for legislative change to criminalise the creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfake images and to improve services for victims and witnesses. I look forward to ongoing work to improve opportunities for our children and citizens and to enhance public safety, and I look forward to hearing from the Minister about what support and assistance is coming forward from our Communities Minister, our Health Minister and our Education Minister to support our justice partners in securing transformational change in our justice system.
725 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.94).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.94 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.41 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.31 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.28 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:26 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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