Sinn Féin has called for radical legislative change to transform the criminal justice system into one that nationalists can identify with.
The party, in discussions with the British government, has suggested the appointment of an independent oversight commissioner and the establishment now of law reform and judicial appointments commissions.
Gerry Kelly, SF policing and justice spokesman, said the promises made under the Good Friday agreement relating to criminal justice changes had not been realised.
He said that the Criminal Justice Review, which was NIO-led, did not live up to nationalist expectations and subsequently the Justice Act 2002 and the Implementation Plan failed to address issues that plagued the system for the past 30 years.
Mr Kelly said this had left many of the most fundamental issues on the shelf awaiting the transfer of powers. As a result, the need for a fair, representative, community-orientated and impartial criminal justice system remained to be realised.
With the implementation of change being left to the staff of the individual criminal justice agencies, Sinn Féin has impressed upon the British government the need for an independent oversight commissioner to oversee the requisite change and necessary timeframes.
"The current director is taking the programme for change in the prosecution service forward. This process has already begun, with the recruitment of new staff in the absence of the necessary safeguards," he said.
"Sinn Féin is calling for the need for accountability and transparency to ensure acceptable change is realised."
The British government, Mr Kelly said, should establish a judicial appointments commission now instead of waiting for the assembly to be reinstated.
"This should be coupled with the necessary legislation to ensure that the judiciary and the commission which appoints the judiciary, are reflective of the community as a whole. Neither should we have to await the transfer of power to establish a law reform commission," he said.
"We are also demanding the establishment of an all-Ireland constitutional court to act as an appellate court and for a neutral working environment to be created in the existing courthouses."
Sinn Féin believes nationalist parties and the Irish government have a similar opinion on many of the outstanding issues.
"It is now up to the British government to introduce the necessary legislation to deal with the absence of adequate human rights training, a complaints mechanism similar to the police ombudsman; the requirement for all personnel working for the criminal justice system, including the judiciary, to register their membership of organisations such as the Free Masons and the Loyal Orders; the inadequacy of the inquest system and; adequate resourcing to allow community restorative and reparative schemes to be put on a viable footing," Mr Kelly said.
