Northern Ireland's controversial non-jury Diplock courts are to be abolished under legislation introduced at Westminster by Northern Secretary Peter Hain last night.
The trial system that was proposed by Lord Diplock in 1972 and introduced the following year will be replaced in July next year, although there will still be allowance to hold non-jury courts, according to the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).
Hitherto, trials relating to all scheduled offences, generally paramilitary crimes, were held in Diplock courts unless the British attorney general specifically decided they must be jury cases.
Under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill, however, there will be the "presumption of a jury trial" in most cases, said the NIO.
All cases will be jury trials unless the North's director of public prosecutions decided that particular cases required a non-jury trial.
Exceptions to jury trials will be where there is a paramilitary or sectarian element to cases involving a "threat to justice".
SDLP policing spokesman Alex Attwood said while progress was made on Diplock courts, "renewed vigilance is required to guarantee that one-judge courts do not become a routine part of the future legal architecture in the North".
Under the new system, defence lawyers will no longer be able to peremptorily or without justification challenge up to 12 potential jurors. There will also be criminal record checks on jurors.
The Bill will provide new powers for the North's Human Rights Commission, giving it access to places of detention, access to official documents and the facility to seek judicial reviews in cases that are viewed as contravening European Convention on Human Rights, according to the NIO.
The Bill, part of the greater so-called "normalisation" or demilitarisation process, allows the British army to continue to have the power to stop and search and provide backup for the PSNI when deemed necessary.
It also seeks to tighten standards in the private security industry to prevent organised crime and paramilitary involvement in the industry.
