NIACRO has unique experience working as a voluntary organisation within the criminal justice system, including drawing on the knowledge and understanding of our users. We want to put that experience to use when public policy is being decided. So we respond to all the key consultations which public authorities, especially criminal justice bodies, undertake. You can read most of these responses here.
We meet regularly with senior policy-makers in the Justice Ministry, the Prison Service, the Youth Justice Agency, the Probation Board, and the Northern Ireland Office. We also meet with statutory bodies outside the criminal justice system such as the Housing Executive, the Department for Employment and Learning and the Social Security Agency.
In early 2010, in preparation for the devolution of criminal justice matters to the NI Assembly, we established the “Justice Series”. These are seminars we organise at the Assembly for MLAs and other interested parties. The first three seminars covered early intervention, prison reform and resettlement.
Staff serve on many relevant statutory and voluntary committees and other groups, such as Children Services Planning, Community Safety Partnerships, the voluntary sector chief executives’ network CO3, and NICVA’s policy forums.
We publish a newsletter, NIACRO News, to share information about our work and about the broader criminal justice scene. You can read NIACRO News here.
We issue news releases on topics of immediate interest – you’ll find current news releases in the News & Events section.