Diplock court

Diplock courts were criminal courts 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. Technically, the Diplock court was not a specially constituted court, but rather an ordinary criminal court before a single judge. From 1991 the relevant court was the Crown Court; before that it was the Belfast City Commission (alternatively the Belfast Recorder's Court until that was abolished in 1975). A Diplock Crown Court usually sat in Belfast but the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland had power to direct a particular case, or class of cases, or part of a case, to be heard elsewhere. The list of scheduled offences required to be tried by Diplock court included: the common law offences of murder, manslaughter, arson, and riot. statutory offences relating to explosives, firearms, rioting, and subversion, as defined under the Malicious Damage Act 1861, Offences against the Person Act 1861, Explosive Substances Act 1883, and several acts passed in 1968 and 1969 in response to the outbreak of the Troubles. 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. The courts were established in response to a report submitted to the UK Parliament in December 1972 by Lord Diplock, which addressed the issue of dealing with physical force Irish republicanism through means other than internment (which had been implemented in August 1971). In his report, Diplock cited two primary reasons for his recommendation that jury trials should be suspended: the danger of perverse acquittals, and, that jurors had been threatened, "of which we have had ample evidence".