The SDLP will today publish a critique of British government plans to fund neighbourhood justice schemes in the North.
The party will unveil its document on community restorative justice in Belfast as Northern Ireland Minister David Hanson's consultation on the proposals continued.
The party is expected to be highly critical of the government's proposal that in republican areas that do not recognise police reforms, community restorative justice groups could apply to handle certain cases without directly consulting the police.
An SDLP source compared the proposal to "Chinese whispers" and claimed that it was not conducive to the prosecution of crime.
An SDLP source
"The same system of third-party communication with the police was put in place to assist the investigation into the murder of Robert McCartney," the source said.
"Because of Sinn Féin's refusal to deal with the police, it was agreed that the office of the Police Ombudsman could be used as an intermediary.
"Police had to send questions in writing to the Ombudsman, who forwarded them to those in the bar where Robert McCartney was attacked, they in turn sent written statements back, but it has failed to bring about any prosecutions."
Unionists, nationalists and former taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald have been critical of the plans, claiming they could hand control of law and order in loyalist and republican areas to vigilante groups.
Community restorative justice groups bring the victims of low-level crime face-to-face with the alleged perpetrators to resolve their differences and find a way of compensating the victim.
The schemes have been operating in loyalist and republican neighbourhoods and have been funded privately.
But with the money due to run out in April 2006, Sinn Féin and supporters of community restorative justice have been pressing the Government to give state funding to the programs.
Critics have warned that the schemes may be used by republicans to exert greater paramilitary control - a fear also voiced by Northern Ireland's ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission.