Greater effort needed to promote equality of opportunity

CJI has called for criminal justice agencies to place a greater emphasis on the promotion of equal opportunities in its latest inspection report.  The report examined the impact of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 which requires public bodies to promote equality of opportunity in carrying out their functions.  View report.  View press release.  To view a copy of the Ministerial Action Plan click here.

The Inspection report found that while all the criminal justice agencies were aware of their responsibilities under s.75, much of the information collected was incomplete providing only a limited picture of what was happening across the system.  In the wake of the report, Dr Michael Maguire, Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice has called on all the criminal justice agencies to collect effective, accurate and timely equality information so that a fuller picture can be compiled and any inequalities that may exist can be identified, corrected or explained.