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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:51 am
Time: 1:51 am
Results for guilty pleas (northern ireland)
1 results foundAuthor: Northern Ireland. Criminal Justice Inspection Title: The Use of Early Guilty Pleas in the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland Summary: Facilitating an offender who fully admits their guilt to be fast tracked through the criminal justice process should be relatively straightforward. Unfortunately, that is not always the case with significant numbers of pleas being entered late in the process as this inspection clearly shows. Entering an early guilty plea and getting the case to court for hearing and disposal has become a complex and protracted process. While we fully appreciate the right of an accused person to plead as they wish, more needs to be done to ensure that those who want to plead guilty are encouraged and facilitated to do so. The Department of Justice (DoJ), the police, prosecution and court service realise the benefits that can be achieved for victims, witnesses and offenders and have taken significant steps to try to move this issue in the right direction. Getting this right has the potential to lessen the impact on victims, deal with the offending behaviour sooner, save money and reduce the pressures on the courts and the judiciary. We accept that it will take a joint approach to improve the current situation and it is clear that the Minister of Justice and the Department are focussed on the critical issues of: • changes to criminal legal aid payments; • the development and delivery of a co-ordinated criminal justice wide early guilty plea scheme; and • other legislative reform including committals and statutory case management (which we have recommended on previous occasions). This report makes two strategic recommendations for the DoJ and a number of operational recommendations for criminal justice agencies to facilitate the progress of this important issue. Details: Belfast: Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland, 2013. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2013 at: http://www.cjini.org/CJNI/files/6b/6bf65923-3cab-4dee-a2a3-717cee809e80.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cjini.org/CJNI/files/6b/6bf65923-3cab-4dee-a2a3-717cee809e80.pdf Shelf Number: 127626 Keywords: CourtsGuilty Pleas (Northern Ireland)Offenders |