Justice Bill

Overview

The Justice Bill sets out to:

• amend the law about the retention and destruction of fingerprints and DNA profiles under Part 6 of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989;
• amend the law about the release of children on bail and about their detention;
• permit the use of live links for the exercise of certain police functions;
• make other provision in connection with the administration of justice; and for connected purposes.

The Minister of Justice has also advised of her intention to table amendments to the Bill at a later stage in the legislative process, which relate to the following matters:

• Restorative justice
• Serious organised crime
• AccessNI filtering
• Reform of rehabilitation periods
• Repeal of vagrancy legislation
• Live links for courts and tribunals

Why your views matter

As part of the Assembly’s normal legislative processes, the Justice Bill has been referred to the Committee for Justice for scrutiny.

The Committee is seeking your views on the objectives, proposals and potential consequences of the Bill. Your views will help to inform the Committee’s consideration of the Bill.

The Committee would also welcome your views on the amendments proposed to the Bill by the Minister of Justice.

Please note, you can choose which parts of the survey you wish to respond to. You do not have to complete the whole survey and can choose which sections or individual pages to complete.

Links to the Bill along with the Explanatory and Financial Memorandum can be found below. 

The proposed amendments received from the Minister of Justice can also be accessed at the link below and a further link has also been provided to all papers relevant to the Bill received by the Committee to date.