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Diplock courts were Criminal law in Northern Ireland for non-jury trial of specified serious crimes ("scheduled offences"). They were introduced by the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973 and used for serious and terrorism-related cases during the Troubles. The Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 ended the automatic use of non-jury trials for scheduled offences but they are still used in Northern Ireland upon certification by the Director of Public Prosecutions on a case-by-case basis.
The list of scheduled offences required to be tried by Diplock court included:
For some scheduled offences, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland could specify a jury trial of a particular case, so that for example a non-political murder would not use the Diplock courts.
Gerald Gardiner's Minority Report as part of the Parker Report in March 1972 found "no evidence of intimidation or of perversity in juries".Greer & White: Abolishing The Diplock Courts, page 91: Report of a Committee to consider, in the context of civil liberties and human rights, measures to deal with terrorism in Northern Ireland, Lord Gardiner. The report marked the beginning of the policy of "criminalisation",Donohue, Laura (2007), Counter Terrorist Law and Emergency Powers in the United Kingdom 1922–2000, p. 155 whereby the State removed legal distinctions between political violence and normal crime, with political prisoners treated as common criminals. The report provided the basis for the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973, which, although later amended (with the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1974 and subsequent renewals), continued as the basis for counter-terrorist legislation in the UK.
Two years later, Lord Gardiner's review of the removal of trial by jury included attempts to bolster Diplock's findings as follows:
The establishment of the Diplock Courts can be seen as an early example of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA's) long-term aim of making "the Six Counties ... ungovernable except by colonial military rule". This was a central pillar of the "Long War" strategy set out in the 1977 Green Book.Brendan O'Brien, The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin, Syracuse University Press, p. 23.
Diplock courts mainly tried republican or Ulster loyalism paramilitaries. In the first case in which a person not associated with the Troubles was tried and convicted, Abbas Boutrab, a suspected al-Qaeda sympathiser, was found guilty of having information that could assist bombing an airliner. "Al-Qaeda terror suspect convicted", BBC News, 24 November 2005 A sentence of six years was handed down on 20 December 2005. "Al-Qaeda terror suspect is jailed", BBC News, 20 December 2005
in Diplock courts were not considerably higher than in jury trials. Between 1984 and 1986 the conviction rate was 51%, compared to 49% for jury trials in Northern Ireland and 50% in England and Wales. The number of cases heard in Diplock courts reached a peak of 329 yearly in the mid-1980s. With the Northern Ireland peace process and paramilitary ceasefires of the latter 1990s, that figure fell to 60 a year in the mid-2000s. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement underpinning the peace process included a British commitment to "security normalisation" including abolition of Diplock courts. Sinn Féin pressed for this in the agreement negotiations, arguing that lack of juries denied accused republicans of the right to a fair trial. On 1 August 2005, the Northern Ireland Office announced that the Diplock courts were to be phased out, and in August 2006 they announced that the courts were to be abolished effective July 2007. This was achieved under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007.
The Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 abolished the idea of "scheduled offences" automatically tried without a jury. Instead it allows for the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland to certify a non-jury trial for any indictable offence provided it was committed either from a motive of "religious or political hostility" or by on behalf of a group which is both proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 and "connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland". The act seeks to address the concerns which led to the establishment of Diplock courts by enhancing Innominate jury to prevent intimidation, and increasing randomised Jury selection to prevent bias.
The Northern Ireland Office's explanatory notes for the 2007 act characterise its changes as "repeal" of "the Diplock system" and its replacement with "a new system of non-jury trial". On the other hand, courts in such trials have much the same format as the pre-2007 Diplock courts, and have been called "Diplock courts" in the media.
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