27th November 2000

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Continuing paramilitary violence has the capacity to derail the peace process, according to the UU academics Professor Colin Knox and Dr Rachel Monaghan.

In a hard hitting study of Northern Ireland's informal criminal justice systems published today, the authors argue that when it comes to paramilitary punishment attacks, the RUC is paralysed – caught between public demands for effective policing, and a lack of the evidence needed to prosecute. The NIO appears indifferent to the problem, unless an attack has political ramifications, say UU academics in a report published today.

The academics also suggest that the response of the Province's voluntary, statutory, community and support sectors to the growing problem of paramilitary 'punishment' attacks and its victims has been ‘ad hoc, disjointed, and personality-based’. The Probation Board and NIACRO are at the forefront in dealing with victims of paramilitary attacks.

The hard-hitting analysis is contained in a report entitled “Informal Criminal Justice Systems in Northern Ireland” sponsored by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.

Other findings in the Knox Report, which took two years to compile, include:

· There is strong support from paramilitary justice within working class communities.

· Some victims of paramilitary 'justice' regard their beating as ‘badges of honour’.

· The Government often takes a ‘hear no evil, see no evil’ approach, based on political considerations.

· Since 1973 to June 2000 there have been 2,303 'punishment shootings', of which 43% are attributed to loyalists, and 57% perpetrated by republicans. But official statistics may under report the magnitude of the problem by as much as 30-50% says the academics.

· From 1982 to end June 2000 there have been 1626 punishment beatings, 46% by loyalists and 54% by republicans.

· The frequency of beatings has increased (and a decrease in shootings) since the ceasefires of 1994.

· Exiling - the expulsion under threat of individuals from Northern Ireland - is increasing. This is a relatively simple way for paramilitaries to remove individuals from the community with little public outcry.

Turning to the experience of those subjected to paramilitary attack, the authors say

“The service provided to victims of paramilitary victims is fragmented, patchy, and in many cases accusing. They have become expendable pawns in pursuit of political games at macro level. It is not politically expedient to argue that the brutality they experience constitutes a clear breach of the Mitchell principles of 'democracy and non-violence' which inform the Belfast Agreement.

“Presenting as a diverse group of largely young men from socially deprived areas means that statutory bodies can treat them with indifference and in some cases contempt. The need for 'joined-up government' is clearly necessary to tackle this problem: but the resolve to do so is thus far lacking.”

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