Naomi Long
East Belfast · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“Underneath the Facebook posts to say that he had passed away, people speculated with such comments as, "Probably high on drugs", "Probably drunk", and, "Typical boy racer". There was all of that speculation. It was hurtful to the family, and it was inaccurate.”
“There are circumstances that we need to consider and be careful of. I was told, for example, that, when the issue of good character references at trial was being looked at in New South Wales — Committee members may wish to look at this for themselves — one of the groups that opposed their removal was representative of domestic abuse victi…”
“It sets out the strategic direction adopted by the Department and key partners to tackle those appalling crimes and protect vulnerable victims of exploitation.”
“The provision seeks to provide protection, via legal advice and representation for complainants, against the use of non-relevant personal material and evidence of previous sexual history being used in the court process.”
“<BR /> <BR />On the wider issue of ensuring that a withdrawal of services never happens again, I think that most of us agree that, although everyone has the right to take industrial action, no one has the right to derail and hold to ransom the entire justice system in that way.”
“Those measures will go some way towards helping to support complainants and enable them to have input into the decision-making process about what records containing their personal and sensitive information are required to be shared with the defence.”
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“My officials are developing a detailed work plan with timescales to commence the provisions in that Act. Once it is completed, I will share it with the Justice Committee. The work plan is broken down into two main work streams: the sale, delivery and possession of corrosive products and substances; and the sale, delivery and possession of knives and offensive weapons. I hope that both work streams, including the running of a surrender and compensation scheme, will be completed and provisions commenced within 18 months.”
“I am confident that, once commenced, the new provisions will strengthen our legislative powers to tackle knife crime.”
“I very much recognise the harm that can be inflicted by knife crime, and I am clear that we need to do all in our power to act to reduce the risk of harm in our community. That is why my officials are taking forward the necessary preparatory work to commence provisions in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, which together will strengthen legislation in Northern Ireland pertaining to knife crime. The provisions will strengthen the laws around the sale and delivery of knives and offensive weapons, particularly to those who are under 18. They will also strengthen prohibitions around the possession of certain classes of knives and offensive weapons, meaning that they can no longer be possessed in private. Before the change is introduced, a surrender and compensation scheme will be run.”
“With the indulgence of the Executive and the Assembly, the intention is to introduce a mixed-content modernisation of justice Bill before the summer recess. The Committee would then have just over a year to process that. We hope, when that is concluded, to introduce a sentencing Bill. When that is complete, the third Bill that we hope to introduce is a hate crime and victims Bill, which will include hate crime provisions, some of which were outlined in the Marrinan report, and some of the remaining victims' arrangements that were proposed by Sir John Gillen.”
“However, I am aware of the concern that is caused when, for example, somebody goes through a lengthy period awaiting trial, often in quite traumatic circumstances, and, on the morning of the trial, the perpetrator makes a guilty plea. In such cases, all that pain and anguish for the individual has been in vain, and people feel that the perpetrator of the crime has, essentially, regained control over the person. That needs careful consideration.”
“If people were made aware of the degree to which the discounting of sentences, as it is rather casually referred to, takes place, it would come as a shock to most. There are good reasons why people get a reduction in sentencing if they make a guilty plea. However, it should be the case — it certainly will be the case with Charlotte's law — that the earlier that that disclosure is made, the more credit that an individual will be given for making it. The later that they leave it, the less credit will be given. It is important that, if we are going to maintain that continuity, that applies across the board, but, obviously, individual sentences are a matter for the judiciary and are not something on which I can interfere or comment.”
“The issue of Harper's law is under consideration. It has not been agreed by the Department, but we are looking at the potential of doing something similar to what has been proposed elsewhere. Were we to decide to go down that route, we would have to look at how quickly we were able to develop proposals and how those would be applied in conjunction with the other regulations and laws that we have in place.”
“The sentencing Bill that I intend to bring forward will also look at creating an aggravating factor for attacks on healthcare workers. I referenced that in the debate earlier, and I will elaborate further on some of the other measures, including those around car incidents and how they will be dealt with in the sentencing Bill. If the Member is still around after Question Time, he will get a full response to those queries.”
“The findings of the public consultation, along with a way forward report, will be published over the coming months once that development work has finished. A number of the administrative measures that I announced in November 2020 have already been agreed with the relevant stakeholders.”
“<BR /> <BR />The key elements of Charlotte's law will be a significant increase in the murderer's life sentence tariff to reflect their ongoing failure to disclose critical information, coupled with the opportunity for a reduction in tariff should a post-sentence disclosure be made. Similar to Helen's law in England and Wales, it will also require the parole commissioners to take the failure to disclose into account when considering the prisoner's suitability for release on licence at the parole stage. Officials in my Department have continued to develop the detail of the proposal, working closely with the affected families and other stakeholders during the absence of the Assembly and since the return of the Executive.”
“It remains my intention to include legislative provision for Charlotte's law as part of a sentencing Bill, which I hope to introduce next year. Charlotte's law is intended to create measures to encourage murderers to reveal the location of their victims' remains in so-called no-body cases. That is being taken forward in light of a campaign that has been spearheaded by Charlotte Murray's family and supported by the family of Lisa Dorrian. Charlotte went missing in 2012. In 2019, her former partner was convicted of her murder. He remains the only person convicted in this jurisdiction to date where the victim's body has not been found.”
“Bail and bail conditions are not matters for the Department of Justice; those decisions are taken by the judiciary or the police, depending on the circumstances. A prisoner's health is still a matter for the health service, rather than for the Department of Justice. We are trying to offer better wraparound and supported care for those who have, for example, additional health and mental health needs as they emerge from the prison system so that we can, for instance, identify accommodation and allow them to get a referral to a GP so that they have continuity of treatment. However, it is more difficult in the case of bail, because that is not something in which the Department is actively engaged.”
“Those are people with incredibly complex needs, reflective of many of the needs that we see in the community, but it is undoubtedly concentrated among the prison population. The Department of Justice itself cannot resolve that; the Department of Health, the Department for Communities and other Ministers need to make a contribution towards addressing it.”
“With very limited secure care facilities for those with the most serious mental health and behavioural problems, it, increasingly, falls to the Department of Justice to house them. Their needs are complex, and among the main prison population is not an appropriate place for them to be held. That is not the right environment or a therapeutic environment for them; it is there for very different purposes. However, rather than have people with nowhere to go, they end up in the prison system, so we have to deal with that. <BR /> <BR />It is incredibly complex. This year, as of April, 38% of the prisoner community was recorded as having a mental health issue, 51% was recorded as having an addiction, and 53% was recorded as having a history of suicide attempt or self-harm.”
“I do agree. The biggest impediment to that is funding. Certainly, the Department of Health faced genuine challenges in funding the psychiatric nurses who would be part of those multi-agency triage teams. It is incredibly important that we are able to continue to develop that and work together collaboratively across the Executive to provide the kind of support that is needed. I would prefer that we did it before people come into contact with the justice system. Increasingly, the people who enter the justice system have fallen through the net of other services and justice is the only place left to go.”
“That includes my role in the Executive working group on mental well-being, resilience and suicide prevention; engagement with the mental health champion, whose role is jointly funded by all Departments; implementation of the 10-year mental health strategy for Northern Ireland and the 10-year strategic framework to tackle the harm caused by substance use for Northern Ireland, Preventing Harm, Empowering Recovery; representation on the Protect Life 2 steering group and Towards Zero Suicide collaborative board; response to the recommendations of the review of services for vulnerable people detained in Northern Ireland prisons; and representation on the forensic managed-care network. While people in prison are already supported by good mental health and addiction healthcare, we can, of course, achieve more through collaborative working.”
“The care of people who come into contact with the justice system is of paramount importance to my Department, particularly in the context of the work of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, as we seek to care for and support people with complex and challenging needs, including mental health issues and addictions, whilst in custody. <BR /> <BR />Prison healthcare services are provided on behalf of the Department of Health by the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. That includes primary healthcare, mental health care and addiction services. However, I recognise that everyone has a role to play in supporting people to look after their mental health and address addictions. My Department is, therefore, engaged with a number of initiatives aimed at improving mental health and reducing the harm for people in Northern Ireland.”
“That gives us a much clearer handle on the extent to which those from different ethnic backgrounds, different religious backgrounds and, indeed, those with different sexuality and gender are being targeted as a result of hate, some of which, I have to say, has been stirred up quite deliberately by those discussing the Scottish Bill and the Bill in the Republic of Ireland.”
“It will be in the later half of the mandate. I would be stretching my officials somewhat to bring the Bill in the later half of this year, but it will be the later half of the mandate. <BR /> <BR />We are looking at the areas, which Judge Marrinan set out in his report, around stirring up hatred and attacks motivated by hatred. We are not creating new crimes; we are taking into account the motivation for those crimes. If no crime has been committed, no offence will be seen by the courts. However, where a crime has been committed against an individual and the courts can establish the motivation for that crime to be a hate motive, that will be taken into account in sentencing and also, crucially, in the recording of that crime.”
“I thank my colleague for the opportunity. I have no plans to criminalise free speech. I have no plans to make a description of another person's biological sex a criminal offence. However, targeting a person because of who they are or what they believe, be it their race, religion, political belief, sexuality, gender identity or disability, is wrong. It is not necessarily criminal, but it is wrong. <BR /> <BR />The purpose of the hate crime Bill, which will be brought to the Assembly in the later half of this mandate, is to support victims and send a clear message that hate crime, in any shape or form, will not be tolerated. The final content of the Bill is still under consideration, but there is no intention to criminalise opinion.”
“There is no intent to criminalise thought; there is no intent to criminalise opinion. Any legislation will be developed in accordance with articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and, as such, will not affect the ability to have a private conversation. In fact, the intention is to extend the protections for freedom of expression to exist for all private conversations, irrespective of where they take place, unlike the current situation, where it is only protected in a private residence.”
“<BR /> <BR />Prisoners tend to be cooperative when they are treated with humanity and respect — we saw that very clearly during COVID — and, in essence, when relationships between them and prison staff are positive and courteous. It is important that NIPS seeks to maintain living conditions, with out-of-cell time and the delivery of a predictable and stable regime. However, if NIPS does not have sufficient staff available each day, it is not possible to offer a predictable regime. The restrictions will increase, out-of-cell time will be reduced, relationships with staff will deteriorate and, ultimately, the opportunity to engage in purposeful activity and rehabilitation will be curtailed, and that, in turn, may lead to increasing levels of reoffending.”
“Evidence demonstrates that a high prison population generally results in an increase in tension on the prison estate. It becomes more challenging to manage prisoners, in particular to encourage positive behaviour. It leads to increases in assaults and incidents in the prison, for example. Such behaviour also leads to an increase in the use of force, the number of adjudications and the use of segregation. All of that can contribute to prisoners, particularly more vulnerable ones, feeling unsafe, and levels of self-harm tend to increase when there are very high levels of prison population. Of equal significance, is the fact that staff may feel unsafe, and, as a result, sick absence levels tend to increase.”
“The management of occupational health at all grades in the Northern Ireland Civil Service is a matter for the Department of Finance. It is therefore not in my gift to undertake a review such as that which the Member suggests. There is not one simple reason for sickness levels in NIPS. A number of factors combine to produce that effect. We have invested in prison officers and have offered them the support that they need to return to work after injury or after having been under stress. Undoubtedly, when prisons become more crowded, more difficult to manage and more stressful environments, that will have an impact on retention and attendance at work.”
“Since January 2022, 315 officers have joined the service, the majority of whom have been deployed to Maghaberry prison, given the particular pressures experienced there. Further recruitment will take place.”
“There are no immediate concerns about the capacity of Hydebank prison, but if the female population continues to increase, it may be necessary to reconfigure the use of accommodation on that site also. <BR /> <BR />The Prison Service has continued to recruit staff across all operational business areas in response to the pressures being experienced. Prior to the suspension of the Assembly in October 2022, I gave approval for the operational staffing level to be increased by 56 officers to meet the demands on the service. In the past year, the Prison Service, in partnership with Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) HR, has undertaken four operational grade recruitment competitions, which were for custody prison officer, night custody officer, prisoner custody officer driver/escort and prisoner custody officer escort.”
“Each square house can accommodate approximately 130 prisoners. <BR /> <BR />On 1 April, there were 54 prisoners in Erne House. Once Erne House reaches capacity, the only remaining accommodation will be in Lagan House, which is also a square house. Although it is ready for use, any decision to open Lagan House is finely balanced, because the Northern Ireland Prison Service would then be using its only contingency accommodation, which is intended for use if, for example, there were an incident or an infrastructure issue that put another residential area out of use. <BR /> <BR />The population of Magilligan prison is being carefully managed to sustain it as close as possible to its capacity of 500 prisoners in order to alleviate ongoing pressure in Maghaberry.”
“With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 2 and 8 together. I seek your indulgence to give a slightly longer answer than usual. <BR /> <BR />Despite the pressures of an increasing prisoner population, prison officers continue to perform their duties with dedication, professionalism and skill. On 1 April 2021, the total prison population in Northern Ireland was 1,374. On 1 April this year, the population had increased by 37%, to 1,886. At Maghaberry prison, as a result of the rise in population, the Prison Service has reopened two of the three square houses, Foyle House and Erne House. That accommodation closed when Davis House, NIPS's most modern accommodation, was built. They are much less suitable environments for prisoners and are more staff-intensive to operate.”
“It is therefore important that we work together as an Executive to respond to the issues and that we do so at community level so that we identify the issues and what the best diversions may be and so that we give our young people the best possible opportunity to avoid coming into negative contact with the police.”
“It is crucial. As people will be aware from my previous remarks in the Chamber, the issue of underfunding in the Department of Justice is a significant challenge that we face at every cut and turn, not just when it comes to antisocial behaviour. <BR /> <BR />It is not just the Department of Justice that has responsibility, however. The Department for Communities has some responsibility. When it comes to interface issues, the Executive Office also has some responsibility for tackling sectarianism, and some of the attacks have been sectarian, although others have simply been instances of wider antisocial behaviour.”
“The Member is correct that partnership working between the relevant agencies is crucial to dealing with this. It is vital that there is a swift and coordinated response to problematic behaviour and the underlying causes of that behaviour. The Member rightly says that it is also important that communities, particularly families, are cognisant of the impact that young people can have when they get involved in activity that could bring them to the attention of the police and damage their future lives. It is important to have that coordinated and joined-up approach. We certainly have a voice when it comes to supporting communities and ensuring that all communities, particularly those on interfaces, have a voice and are working on community development plans in order to be able to offer that support.”
“<BR /> <BR />Additionally, the Department, along with the Northern Ireland Policing Board, provides annual funding for district policing and community safety partnerships (PCSPs), which play a key role in the Department’s operational response to community safety issues — including ASB — across all communities. North Belfast district PCSP has funded a number of initiatives, including those that are focused directly on the Girdwood and Cliftonpark Avenue area, and, in recent months, has coordinated multi-agency meetings to ensure a proactive partnership response to issues in the area.”
“<BR /> <BR />In response to the antisocial behaviour in that specific area, the Youth Justice Agency continues to actively engage with key stakeholders, including the PSNI, social services, the Education Authority and other youth providers to ensure a more joined-up problem-solving approach. The Youth Justice Agency operates earlier stage diversion, with partnership initiatives that include its targeted schools programme, community resolution scheme and a multi-agency children’s diversion forum, which has remained particularly effective in addressing wider systemic needs while ultimately diverting children away from the formal criminal justice system.”
“Addressing antisocial behaviour (ASB) in any area requires partnership working, as it is rare that such issues are addressed by the criminal justice system alone. My Department works collaboratively with local and central government and other relevant agencies who have the levers needed to put in place joined-up, long-term solutions to prevent incidents from arising and tackle the impact of ASB. The Department’s interfaces team works alongside local communities and elected representatives to help to address the issue of antisocial behaviour in areas around interface structures.”
“Conscious of time, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will return to that very point, potentially after Question Time, because I note that that was the next thing that I was going to raise.”
“For more serious assaults, I intend to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for offences where the victim was a front-line worker, meaning that the court will have to specifically recognise those attacks and increase the sentence accordingly. I plan to introduce those new provisions in a sentencing Bill to be introduced next year.”
“<BR /> <BR />Currently, a number of offences can be charged for attacks on police officers, and I want to outline them. The offence of assaulting a police officer carries a maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment in the Magistrates' Court or two years if tried in the Crown Court. More serious assaults against police can be charged using other offences found in the Offences against the Person Act. They include assault occasioning actual bodily harm, with a maximum sentence of seven years, and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm, for which an offender may receive up to a life sentence. <BR /> <BR />The new offence that I intend to introduce is that of assault on front-line workers, with a higher 12-month sentence in the Magistrates' Court and two years in the Crown Court.”
“That is why I intend to introduce new legislation in this mandate to reform the law on sentencing by increasing the maximum sentence in the Magistrates' Court for such attacks and by making serious assaults on front-line workers a statutory aggravating factor. It is important to acknowledge that the actual sentence imposed in individual cases is entirely a matter for the independent judiciary, which deals with each case and has heard all the evidence presented in court. The sentencing exercise is complex, and it is unique to every case. A judge must carefully consider all factors related to that case along with any sentencing guidance — the responsibility of the court, not the Department — and sentencing principles before coming to a final determination.”
“<BR /> <BR />I am happy, however, to address the issues that fall under my remit as Justice Minister. First, with respect to sentencing, I assure Members that I take assaults on police officers extremely seriously. Attacks on police officers and, indeed, on any public servant are totally unacceptable. Everyone deserves to be able to carry out their duties without fear of attack or reprisal, and those who carry out such attacks should feel the full force of the law being brought down on them. In the case of those who are in the emergency services, it not only endangers the responder but those in the community who are relying on their assistance in an emergency situation.”
“<BR /> <BR />The motion covers a range of issues, and I am sure that Members who are here today, particularly those who tabled the motion, three of whom are serving political members of the Policing Board, will appreciate that there are matters in the motion that I cannot stray into, as they are operational policing matters in south Armagh. Indeed, I cannot stray into critique or debate of decisions that the Chief Constable made. It is also worth mentioning that, on the basis of the data and information that the PSNI provided to me in advance of the debate, there are no obvious trends in date, time and location with the incidents. Whilst the numbers are still quite small, each attack is incredibly serious, so we need to be cautious when we discuss the issues and show sensitivity in how we talk about them.”
“<BR /> <BR />It has been just over 11 years since the appalling incident in which young police officer Philippa Reynolds lost her life, when the police vehicle that she was travelling in was hit by a stolen car in Derry/Londonderry as she went about her job of keeping people safe in the community in which she served. Such a tragic waste of a young life in sad and reckless circumstances should not be forgotten, nor should it be overlooked. The incident in which Philippa lost her life and the continued prevalence of ramming incidents across Northern Ireland should serve as a reminder to everyone of the courageous service that the PSNI performs for all of us. I take the opportunity to give thanks and gratitude to it for all that it does to keep people safe.”
“I am grateful to the Members for South Antrim, Mid Ulster, East Antrim and Newry and Armagh for bringing the issue to the House for discussion. I thank all the Members who contributed to the debate. Such cowardly and reckless attacks on police officers who are working in our community to keep others safe are totally reprehensible, and I condemn them without hesitation. That reckless behaviour puts police officers and members of the public at risk of serious harm, and it is only by God's grace that no one has been killed. I cannot even begin to imagine how frightening it is for officers to be involved in that type of incident or the impact that it has on them and their families, physically and mentally.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. I appreciate his support for the sentencing Bill. Does he agree that, had his party not collapsed the institutions, we might be looking at the sentencing Bill today rather than debating the motion?”
“On a point of order, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I want to correct the record from earlier. I was asked specifically when, we felt, the provision to have live links as part of the primary legislation would become operable, and I said, I think, summer 2026. I can report that it will actually be summer 2025. When I said 2026, it seemed like a long way away, so I went back and checked, and it is summer 2025. Members who were concerned about the extension of the Coronavirus Act's cover for that may be relieved to hear that it will be sooner than I had anticipated.”
“One thing that I have done as a result of meeting Arlene's family and the families of Charlotte Murray and Lisa Dorrian is look at how we can incentivise through the criminal justice system the early return of the remains of individuals who have been murdered. It is a challenging space, but, in this mandate, we intend to bring forward a bespoke form of Charlotte's law that will allow us at each stage of the criminal justice system to apply more pressure to offenders. The difficulty, of course, is that, in my recollection of Arlene's case, the individual who was ultimately thought to be responsible has passed away.”
“I will write to the Member, because that is a sensitive issue. I met the family and had a detailed discussion with them and their legal representatives. Complex issues are at play in that the way in which the original case was handled has contributed to the family's distress. I will write to the Member with my thoughts on that issue.”
“The last thing that many of the people who end up coming into contact with the justice system need is to be in prison. They need to be in a medical facility, where they can detox and get the support and guidance that they need.”
“There is space for additional cross-departmental working between the Department of Justice and the Department of Health. Many of the people who come into the purview of the Department of Justice do so as a result of the fact that they have fallen through the education system net and the health service net. They come to us with increasingly complex mental health and drug complications, often with learning difficulties or speech and communication difficulties. As an Executive, we need to look at how we will tackle drugs and drug dependency in a different way that allows us to maintain the legal position that the drugs are class A, class B and class C, which is not in our gift to change because it is UK-wide policy, and to do the most effective thing. Basically, the approach cannot be effective if drug crime is increasing.”
“Often, the people who come before the judiciary have relatively small amounts of drugs, but their drug taking and drug dependency have fuelled acquisitive and other petty crime. They need to be drug-free and to be supported through rehabilitation and harm reduction rather than to be further criminalised by the system.”
“There are a number of complex parts to that. First, sentencing lies with the Lady Chief Justice and the judiciary, who are independent of my office. We can certainly, through a sentencing Bill, set the maximum sentences for an offence, but it is up to the judiciary, on the basis of what they hear and what they learn from the specialist reports that are put in front of them, to bring that to a conclusion in the sentences that are given. I hope, though, that the judiciary will take account of the Assembly's indicating with stiffer maximum sentences the severity that it attaches to those crimes. <BR /> <BR />I believe that the best way to deal with issues around drugs is through a harm reduction model and a health-based approach, not necessarily through stiffer sentences.”