justice report
Justice Bill narrowed In June 2021, a decision was taken to narrow the scope of a proposed Justice Bill in order to secure Executive agreement and progress important public protection provisions. agendaNi outlines the contents of the re-drafted Justice (Sex Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill and proposed amendments. Introduced to the Assembly on 5 July 2021, the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill was significantly shorter than originally intended by Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA, with elements of originally intended Bill dropped to secure its introduction. The new Bill comprises only Parts 1 (Sexual Offences), 2 (Trafficking and Exploitation) and 5 (Prevention Orders) of the original Bill, a change Minister Naomi Long told the Assembly “was necessary to secure Executive agreement to its introduction and thus progress at least some of the important public protection provisions of the previous Bill in this mandate”. However, the Department has indicated its intention to bring forward a number of amendments as the Bill progresses, for which the
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Minister has secured Executive agreement. The Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill has two key principles: to enhance public safety by implementing certain elements of the report of the Gillen review covering serious sexual offence cases and a review of the law on child sexual exploitation and sexual offences against children; and to improve services for victims of trafficking and exploitation. An outline of the Bill’s contents is included in Figure 1. A significant consequence of the narrowing of the previously proposed Bill is that important legislation, including that required to comply with court rulings, assist court recovery and speed up justice, and reduce the legal aid bill, will not proceed in the current mandate.
