Inspectorate welcomes progress on securing attendance at court
27/03/2014
Chief Inspector Brendan McGuigan has welcomed steps taken by the criminal justice system to improve the attendance of witness and offenders at court. View report page.
CJI found that three of the inspection recommendations made in 2011 have been fully achieved the remaining three partially achieved.
"This is a positive development, however we were disappointed much of the work to progress the inspection recommendations had only been recently undertaken," said Mr McGuigan
"Inspectors were also concerned that the level of information obtained from a pilot scheme looking at the reasons for court adjournments was not sufficiently detailed to aid the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service to clearly identify where it should focus its efforts to reduce non attendance and the number of court cases being adjourned," he said.
The Chief Inspector said that he welcomed the steps taken by the Courts Service to improve the level of data available.
"The importance of continuing to limit delays in the progression of court cases in order to minimise the negative impact on victims and mitigate both inefficiency and increases in costs is important and should remain a priority for the criminal justice system," he said.