2008

Dr Michael Maguire was one of a number of guest speakers who addressed the first day of the 2008 Courts Conference hosted by the Northern Ireland Court Service at the Inn of Courts, Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast.  The event was attended by representatives of all of the court jurisdictions within the British Isles.  Other speakers who addressed the conference were senior officials within the courts services across these jurisdictions.



 

CJI’s Chief Inspector Dr Michael Maguire was one of a number of speakers invited to address this year’s Criminal Justice System Northern Ireland Conference.  The theme of the event held at the Hilton Hotel, Templepatrick, was Working Together for Public Protection.  During his speech, Dr Maguire highlighted the role of the inspection process played in developing the criminal justice system and the contribution CJI could make to building confidence in the criminal justice system and demystifying it for the community.  The event which brought together representatives from across the criminal justice sector also incorporated the 2008 Criminal Justice Awards which promote best practice across the system.  The awards were presented by the Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins MP.

Tom McGonigle presented a paper on Correctional Oversight – Challenges, Prospects and Lessons at a workshop as part of the annual conference of the International Corrections and Prisons Association in Prague, Czech Republic.  Other workshop speakers included the Correctional Investigator of Canada  Howard Sapers, the recently retired Chief Inspector of Prisons of Western Australia, Richard Harding and the Director of Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action from Nigeria, Uju Agomoh.  Over 350 delegates attended the international conference.

Criminal Justice Inspection has published the latest edition of its newsletter The Spec. Copies of the October '08 edition can be viewed or downloaded here.

Brendan McGuigan, Deputy Chief Inspector, gave a presentation at the BMF Modern and Efficient Government Conference in the Stormont Hotel on Wednesday 17 September 2008.  A copy of the presentation can be downloaded here.

CJI’s new Chief Inspector Dr Michael Maguire has met with the Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins MP for the first time since taking up his post.  The Chief Inspector said he welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Minister and looked forward to working with him in the future.

Speaking about his appointment as the head of CJI, Dr Maguire said: “I am delighted to have taken over as Chief Inspector from Kit Chivers and look forward to building relationships with CJI's partner agencies in the criminal justice system.  The Inspectorate is making a valuable contribution to the criminal justice system and I believe elected local representatives and local people are taking an interest in the findings of CJI’s reports."

Kit Chivers, Brendan McGuigan and James Corrigan gave evidence to the Assembly’s Environment Committee on the recommendations made by the Inspectorate in its report on Enforcement by the Department of the Environment.  They were warmly welcomed by Committee Chairman Patsy McGlone MLA.  Speaking after the event, Kit said: “Members of the Environment Committee were extremely interested in the work CJI had undertaken on road safety as well as on environmental crime.  We had a very useful exchange with the Committee and look forward to meeting with it again to discuss the DOE’s response to our report and to talk about our inspection of Roads Policing when it is published.”

 

Criminal Justice Inspection hosted its annual Stakeholder Conference at the Stormont Hotel, Belfast.  The one-day conference looked at the benefits and challenges the devolution of policing and criminal justice would present for statutory and voluntary and community organisations working within the criminal justice sector.  The conference was opened by the Attorney General, the Rt. Hon Baroness Scotland QC.  Other speakers who addressed the audience of over 100 delegates included the Lord Advocate of Scotland, the Rt. Hon Elish Angiolini QC and the Chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Sir Patrick Cormack MP.  They were joined by Aideen Glimore, Deputy Director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice and Steve Costello, Chairman of the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland.

During the one-day conference Kit Chivers gave his annual review during which he spoke of the work undertaken by the Inspectorate during the course of the year and examined the issue of the devolution of policing and criminal justice.  The conference also provided an opportunity for CJI to consult its stakeholders on its draft inspection programme for 2008-09.  Brendan McGuigan gave a brief overview of the topics and areas within the criminal justice system that CJI intended to inspect and review.  He encouraged delegates to help shape the organisation’s next three-year Corporate Plan by indicating the areas where they, as participants within the criminal justice system, felt the Inspectorate should focus its efforts in the future.