SINN Féin Justice spokesperson Raymond McCartney has welcomed confirmation that the North is to get its first specialist drug and alcohol courts.
The Foyle MLA was speaking after the Department of Justice announced plans to establish Family Drug and Alcohol Courts among a suite of measures which would act as alternatives to custodial sentences.
He said: “This approach has been operated successfully in different areas of the world where an offender’s addiction is seen as a central cause of the crime and therefore something which needs to be addressed as part of any sentencing.
“This can be an effective alternative to simply imposing punitive jail sentences which do not necessarily reduce re-offending because they do not address the underlying causes of the offending behaviour.
“If a justice system is to be truly effective that it must embrace the latest and most effective evidence-based approaches to crime and offenders and drug and alcohol courts are a step in that direction.”
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