A SIGNIFICANT reform is set for the criminal justice system.
The Department of Home Affairs’ Criminal Justice Strategy, unanimously approved by Tynwald in December, is aimed at making the system better, faster, simpler and more cost efficient.
Key policy areas are identified for improvement, including prevention of crime, an appropriate response when crime is committed, and rehabilitation of offenders to reduce future offending.
Alternative approaches to sentencing, such as restorative and community justice and the extended use of fixed penalties as a means of reducing the volume of low-level criminal matters brought before the courts, will now be explored.
Home Affairs Minister Juan Watterson MHK said he wanted to ensure it was ‘only the more violent and persistent offenders that go to prison’.
Work is being led by the Criminal Justice Board, comprising the heads of the Department of Home Affairs, Isle of Man Constabulary, General Registry, Attorney General’s Chambers, and the Prison and Probation Service, together with representation from the Law Society.
The board has also been tasked with delivering a common set of objectives to improve quality and reduce lead times in such areas as preparing files to go to court, reducing the time taken to prosecute cases and reducing the amount of form filling between agencies.
The average time it takes for a case to reach court is 76 weeks.
Mr Watterson said the board was looking at reducing this to 26 weeks – the time taken in Scotland.
A total of 69 responses were received in a public consultation on the strategy, launched last October.
Mr Watterson said: ‘Reform of the criminal justice system is a massive undertaking which has the potential to deliver significant improvements and efficiencies.
‘The principles outlined within the Criminal Justice Strategy have been broadly supported by the public and as we move towards the implementation of a number of the initiatives, the views received during the consultation will be considered in our discussions.’
The Minister said that questions regarding greater accountability, prison being reserved for serious and persistent offenders, appropriate use of fixed penalty notices and performance reporting were ‘positively received’.
The average number of inmates at Jurby Prison in 2010-11 was 102, at an annual cost of £58,779 each.
He said the issue of legal aid and its sustainability ‘requires further consideration in conjunction with Treasury’, saying: ‘The majority of responses were supportive of the provision of legal aid, but with varied opinions as to how this can be sustained.’
Legal aid costs spiralled from £1.2m in 2003-04 to £3.38m in 2011-12.
In relation to community justice, Mr Watterson, said ‘further consideration would be given to how, and if, this issue would be progressed’.
He said: ‘The Isle of Man enjoys low crime and high detection rates and is undoubtedly one of the safest places to live in the British Isles.
‘The strategy we are working on now provides an opportunity to make significant improvements and ensure the Manx criminal justice system is fit for purpose for the next 20 years.’