Dear Colleague
The Department of Justice is co-ordinating the roll out across Northern Ireland of the Indictable Cases Process which over the last 18 months has been trialled in the Division of Ards. Further details about this project which is aimed at speeding up the criminal justice process are set out in the Overview below.
In advance of the commencement date on 2 May 2017, the Department is holding a number of Information and Awareness sessions. The Belfast event will take place on Thursday 30th March at 1pm in Court No.8 at Laganside. I understand that some of the judiciary at Laganside are planning to attend. Attendees will be able to claim one hour of free CPD.
As these sessions have been advertised in E-nformer it may be that solicitors from other Local Associations will also attend the Belfast event.
Anyone wishing to attend the event should e-mail Steven Keown at steven@mccallionkeown.co.uk.
Indictable Cases Process (ICP) Overview
The Indictable Cases Process (ICP) is a development deriving from the ‘Indictable Cases Pilot’, (often referred to as the Ards pilot), an inter-agency initiative which operated in Ards County Court (CC) Division during 2015.
The pilot was the outcome of a report instigated by the Lord Chief Justice who asked Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) to examine a group of Crown Court cases to identify the reasons for delay. The report found that while there were issues at each stage in criminal proceedings, the majority of delay occurred during the investigation and case preparation stages. Senior leaders across the criminal justice system commissioned key participants in the criminal justice process – the Department of Justice, PSNI, Public Prosecution Service and the Northern Ireland Court Service to develop a ‘Radical Pilot’ to tackle avoidable delay. The ICP operated during 2015 and significant positive outcomes were achieved, notably approximately a 30% reduction in time from report of crime to the court disposal.
The Criminal Justice Board which comprises the most senior leaders across the criminal justice system believe it is time to proceed with substantive rollout of the ICP to a selected range of offence types – namely attempted murder, section 18 and section 20 assaults and indictable drugs cases. Members of a Project Board, representing the various criminal justice agencies and the Department of Justice, have been working together to develop and agree procedures for rollout which will commence on 2 May 2017 and operate in all regions.
The five key principles underpinning the Indictable Cases Process are:
- early engagement between PPS and PSNI;
- early engagement between PPS and defence;
- proportionate evidence required to meet the Test for Prosecution;
- supporting effective judicial case management; and
- supporting the delivery of effective sentencing.
The benefits expected include: more proportionate case preparation; focused investigations; earlier provision of targeted and proportionate forensic evidence; greater number of earlier admissions of guilt/earlier guilty pleas; fewer remand hearings; and fewer withdrawals/reduction in the rate of cracked trials; and shorter proceedings overall.
A series of information and awareness sessions with key stakeholders commenced in January and is ongoing in preparation for rollout on 2 May 2017. These include events for the legal profession, the judiciary, criminal justice agencies and other interested groups.
The list of offences to which ICP principles are applied may be further increased as the five key principles become embedded into normal working practice.