McCrea warns against knee jerk reaction on age of criminality
Lagan Valley MLA Basil McCrea has warned against knee jerk reactions to any change in the age of criminality in Northern Ireland.
Mr McCrea spoke out following the Justice Committee Chairman Paul Givan’s reaction to the Ministerial Statement on the Review of Youth Justice which was given to the Assembly today by the Justice Minister.
Mr McCrea, who is also the Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice Spokesman said;
“In the Assembly today the Chairman of the Justice Committee – the DUP’s Paul Givan – once again showed his inexperience and failed to properly consider the issues which were raised, resulting in a predictable knee-jerk reaction.
It is far too early to reach conclusions regarding the raising of the age of criminal responsibility to 12 without first studying the report and subjecting it to proper analysis.
What is undeniable is that we as an Assembly and as a society must take real steps to reduce child criminality. All the evidence suggests that it is important to try to keep young people away from the criminal justice system for as long as possible. Criminalisation and stigmatisation of children does little to address offending behaviour and bring about desistence from crime.
It is also important to speed up decision making so that children and young people understand that any sentence imposed is a direct consequence of their actions.
This is not about going soft on youth crime but it is about trying to intervene early to ensure that young people who are in danger of going down a wrong path early in their lives, can be turned back. This will have the twin benefits of saving that individual from a life of crime and punishment, and also saving society in terms of the cost of crime and the cost of imprisonment. This is considerable given that the Northern Ireland Prison Service states that it currently costs £78,000 a year to house a prisoner.
It is not for the criminal justice system to make up for a failure of parenting. These young people have not suddenly appeared as if from no-where. They come from homes in which their parents have all too often failed to instill in them a basic respect for their neighbours and the society.
This is too complex a problem to be reduced to knee-jerk reactions.“
McCrea comments on Access to Justice Review
Lagan Valley MLA, Basil McCrea, has commented on the Access to Justice Review which was released today following a statement from the Justice Minister.
The Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson said;
‘This Access to Justice Review is extremely important for Northern Ireland as it is imperative that we ensure that an equitable criminal justice system is in place which is accessible to all. One of the issues raised in the Review is the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to settle cases without going to court. This is an area which I am keen for the Minister to drive forward due to the fact that it has the potential to facilitate fair outcomes, keep the costs imposed on individuals at a minimum and reduce the heavy burden of cases currently going through the Courts.
The issue of the right to elect for trial by jury was also raised in the statement by the Minister, with the review setting out that although this should remain the same as now, ways of keeping the incidence and costs of these cases within bounds are suggested. It must be remembered that trial by jury is a fundamental tenet of democracy and that we should be careful in tampering with it, however, I look forward to contributing to the debate in the Justice Committee on this issue.
Lastly, the report looks at the arrangements in place to facilitate and incentivise lawyers to advise on the merits of early pleas. Whilst this is an important area in ensuring that cases are not prolonged more than is necessary, I firmly believe that we need to look beyond the issue of simply finding efficiencies and also make sure that justice is being seen to be done by the public.”
Adult Apprenticeships announcement woefully inadequate
Responding to the statement by the Minister for Employment and Learning regarding Adult Apprenticeships, Mr McCrea (Chair for the Committee for Employment and Learning) said:
“The measures announced are disappointingly limited. Whilst better than nothing they fail to address the relentless rise in unemployment. In my constituency alone, there were 527 new Jobseekers’ Allowance claimants last month. Such people need help, hope and the opportunity to retrain.”
“We need a determined effort by the Minister and the Executive to give those who have lost their jobs with the opportunity to reenter the job market. Of course budgets are tight but creative, well managed initiatives scaled to meet the demand must be found.”
Unemployment has been rising month on month with the current level of unemployment currently at 60,400. The Executive has yet to produce a coherent strategy for dealing with this matter. DEL budgets are strained as a direct impact of the political decision to retain tuition fees at the current level.
“The Executive must address the situation collectively, and the Minister should not have to make a decision between maintaining tuition fees, reducing Adult Apprenticeships and underfunding Employment Services.”
