Justice schemes 'must be vetted'

Restorative justice aims to bring victims and offenders together

People working in restorative justice schemes in the future should be vetted, a Westminister committee has said.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee said an independent panel must be set up to ensure they had no paramilitary links.

It said those working in the schemes must not have had any serious criminal convictions since Good Friday 1998.

The report said restorative justice groups must communicate fully and directly with the PSNI.

It said any scheme which serves as a front for paramilitaries must not be supported.

Complementary

Committee members visited restorative justice schemes during the course of their investigation and said they were impressed by what they saw.

However, in the report, MPs said their role must be complementary to and not parallel to the work of the police, and the courts.

Committee chairman Sir Patrick Cormack said: "It truly has to be a level playing field here.

"All of these schemes have to be signed up to the same protocol, accept the same conditions, the same restrictions and work in harmony together and there must not be a political influence or involvement."

Restorative justice is a community-based scheme, designed to bring together victims and offenders and is an attempt to resolve their differences without going through the courts.

There are three types of restorative justice schemes operating in Northern Ireland.

Youth Conferencing is government sponsored and regulated and works with the police, Courts Service and Public Prosecution Service. It dealt with 299 cases last year.

Community Restorative Justice Ireland, which operates in some nationalist areas, has no working relationship with the police, PPS or courts. It says it dealt with 1,700 cases last year.

Northern Ireland Alternatives operates in five loyalist areas. It does not work with the PPS or the Courts Service, but works with the police. It says it dealt with 300 cases in 2005.