Department of Justice (Northern Ireland)


The Department of Justice is a government department in the Northern Ireland Executive, which was established on 12 April 2010 as part of the devolution of justice matters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The department's Permanent Secretary is Hugh Widdis. It combines the previous work of the Northern Ireland Office and the Ministry of Justice, within the United Kingdom Government, which were respectively responsible for justice policy and the administration of courts in Northern Ireland.

History

The partition of Ireland created a separate jurisdiction of Northern Ireland in June 1921. A local Ministry of Home Affairs, initially led by Dawson Bates, was established at that time and oversaw most aspects of justice policy until the introduction of direct rule in March 1972. The Northern Ireland Office, led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, was subsequently responsible for security and political affairs during the remainder of the Troubles.
The post of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was abolished in 1922 and subsequently replaced in Northern Ireland by the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. His supporting department and the subsequent Department for Constitutional Affairs oversaw the courts until the formation of the Ministry of Justice in May 2007.
Most aspects of social and economic policy were devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive in December 1999. The devolution of policing and justice was pledged in the St Andrews Agreement and the Hillsborough Castle Agreement and occurred in April 2010.
In October 2018, the department launched the "Ending the Harm" campaign to end paramilitary punishment attacks, a form of vigilante justice by paramilitary groups that continues after the Troubles.

Minister

The Minister of Justice is elected by a cross-community vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly, unlike all other Northern Ireland Executive posts, which are either allocated by the d'Hondt method or appointed directly by the largest parties.
The exception was made to resolve a dispute between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin. The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland successfully nominated its party leader, David Ford, on 12 April 2010. Ford was re-elected to the position on 16 May 2011 and was Minister until 2016. On 25 May 2016, independent unionist Claire Sugden was elected the new Minister of Justice, following the Alliance Party's refusal of the justice ministry. Sugden's tenure as minister ended on 26 January 2017, when the Northern Ireland Executive was dissolved following further disputes between the DUP and Sinn Féin.

Aim

Under the Programme for Government for 2016–2020, the department has been tasked with the outcome of "a safe community where we respect the law, and each other”. Its objectives are based on the concept of 'problem-solving justice' which seeks to drive forward "new and more imaginative" strategies, which will seek to address the underlying causes of offending behaviour.

Structure

The Department of Justice's headquarters is located in Castle Buildings in Belfast. Its remit includes the following executive agencies:
The department also oversees the following non-departmental public bodies:
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is operationally independent and accountable to the Northern Ireland Policing Board; the Minister of Justice has overall responsibility for legislation on policing.

Responsibilities

The Department of Justice is responsible for most everyday policing and justice powers in Northern Ireland.
In 2009, responsibility for Interfaces Areas and passed from the Northern Ireland Office to the Minister of Justice. As such, the Department of Justice is responsible for the policy of 'removal of all peacewalls in Northern Ireland by 2023'.
The Northern Ireland Act 1998 Order 2010 outlines the policy areas transferred to the Northern Ireland Assembly. These include:
Some justice matters remain reserved to Westminster, with the Assembly's agreement e.g. the prerogative of mercy in terrorism cases, illicit drug classification, the National Crime Agency, the accommodation of prisoners in separated conditions within the Northern Ireland Prison Service, parades and the security of explosives.
In addition, some justice matters remain excepted and devolution was either not discussed or not considered feasible: extradition, military justice, the enforcement of immigration law, and national security.
The Department of Justice's main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government are:
  • the Home Office ;
  • the Ministry of Justice ;
  • the Northern Ireland Office.
In the Irish Government, its main counterpart is the Department of Justice. A considerable proportion of law enforcement in Northern Ireland is taken up with unresolved cases arising from the Troubles, continuing paramilitary activity and tensions caused by sectarian division. The border results in differences in law between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which are exploited through smuggling and other forms of crime. The border has become an external border of the European Union, following Brexit.

Finance

The 2016–2017 Northern Ireland Executive budget allocated a £1,050.5 million resource budget to the Department of Justice:
  • £746 million for safer communities
  • £93.5 million for the Legal Services Agency
  • £93.3 million for the Northern Ireland Prison Service
  • £38.6 million for the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service
  • £16.3 million for the Probation Board
  • £16.2 million for the Youth Justice Agency
  • £15.2 million for compensation services
  • £15 million for
  • £8.6 million for the Police Ombudsman
  • £6.2 million for the Policing Board
  • £1.1 million for Criminal Justice Inspection
  • £500,000 for forensic science
This represented an increase from the previous resource budget of £1,023.9 million.
The department's capital budget was £58 million, allocated as follows:
  • £30 million for safer communities
  • £17 million for the Northern Ireland Prison Service
  • £4.7 million for the Legal Services Agency
  • £2.7 million for access to justice
  • £1.8 million for Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service
  • £800,000 for compensation services
  • £800,000 for forensic science
  • £200,000 for the Youth Justice Agency
The Northern Ireland Executive was also provided with £32 million for national security in relation to Northern Ireland, £30 million for legacy bodies to deal with the Troubles, £5 million to tackle paramilitary activity, and £800,000 to assist with the monitoring of paramilitary activity.

Legislation

Since the devolution of policing and justice, the Northern Ireland Assembly has enacted seven Acts mainly relating to justice policy:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
In addition, the formally established the department.