The Department of Justice (Irish: An Roinn Dlí agus Cirt, Ulster-Scots: Männystrie o tha Laa) 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.[4] 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.
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.[5]
The exception was made to resolve a dispute between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin.[9] The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland successfully nominated its party leader, David Ford, on 12 April 2010.[10] Ford was re-elected to the position on 16 May 2011[11] and was Minister until 2016.[12] On 25 May 2016, independent unionistClaire 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.
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.[13]
Structure
The Department of Justice's headquarters is located in Castle Buildings in Belfast. Its remit includes the following executive agencies:
The Department of Justice is responsible for most everyday policing and justice powers in Northern Ireland.
In 2009, responsibility for Interfaces Areas and Peacewalls passed from the Northern Ireland Office to the Minister of Justice.[14] As such, the Department of Justice is responsible for the policy of 'removal of all peacewalls in Northern Ireland by 2023'.[15]
In the Irish Government, its main counterpart is the Department of Justice.[21] A considerable proportion of law enforcement in Northern Ireland (and media coverage of policing and justice stories) 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 (the only UK jurisdiction with an international land border) 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[22] allocated a £1,050.5 million resource budget to the Department of Justice:
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 (not yet established), £5 million to tackle paramilitary activity, and £800,000 to assist with the monitoring of paramilitary activity.[24]
Legislation
Since the devolution of policing and justice, the Northern Ireland Assembly has enacted seven Acts mainly relating to justice policy:
^Donnan, Hastings; Jarman, Neil (2017). "Ordinary Everyday Walls: Normalising Exception in Segregated Belfast". The Walls between Conflict and Peace. International Comparative Social Studies. Vol. 34. doi:10.1163/9789004272859_011. ISBN9789004272859.
