Policy background
More than 3,500 people were killed during the Troubles, including over 1,000 members of the security forces. Of those killed, it is estimated that 58% were the responsibility of republican paramilitaries, 30% of loyalist paramilitaries, and 10% of the security forces.1 Many of these cases remain unsolved - as of May 2022, the Police Service of Northern Ireland currently has a caseload of over 900 cases involving nearly 1,200 deaths. During a Northern Ireland Affairs Committee evidence session in September 2020, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said that to go through the current Legacy Investigation Branch caseload, "which is not all the 3,500 deaths, would take over 20 years from a standing start now on the current resource base." 2