Domestic Abuse Prosecutions, Convictions and Case Processing Time Statistics for 2022-23 to 2023-24 published today
Date published:
The Department of Justice has published the official statistics publication ‘The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 – Prosecutions at courts and case processing time for domestic abuse related cases dealt with in 2022/23 to 2023/24’.
This bulletin presents information on prosecutions and convictions for domestic abuse related criminal cases dealt with at courts in Northern Ireland for the financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24, as well as out of court disposals completed within the same period. Information on case processing times for such cases is also provided. Cases included in this publication are those relating to the domestic abuse (DA) offence or any offence aggravated by reason of involving DA as laid out in The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021.
KEY FINDINGS
- As it takes some time for cases to complete their journey through the justice system, not all DA related cases dealt with at courts were for offences under the 2021 Act. In 2022/23 and 2023/24 respectively, while there were 3,384 and 3,756 DA related prosecutions at courts, 1,625 and 2,728 were for offences under the 2021 legislation.
- In 2023/24 and 2022/23 respectively, 55.5% (1,515 out of 2,728) and 51.7% (840 out of 1,625) of all DA related cases under the Act resulted in a conviction; 302 cases in 2023/24 and 211 in 2022/23 were dealt with by out of court disposal.
- Of the 396 cases with the new DA offence dealt with at court in 2023/24, 210 resulted in convictions. Of the 2,656 cases with offences with the statutory aggravator (Section 15), 1,478 resulted in a conviction.
- In 2023/24, there were convictions in 17 cases where there was a child related aggravator (Section 8 or Section 9), with the aggravator proved in 8 of these cases. In 2022/23, there were convictions in 8 such cases, with the aggravator proved in 6 of those cases.
- In 2023/24, 96.6% (2,635) of cases were dealt with at magistrates’ courts, down slightly from 2022/23 (99.4%, 1,616), though that may, in part, have been due to Crown Court cases taking longer to complete.
- During both years, the vast majority of people convicted of an offence under the Act were male (2023/24: 91.9%, 1,392; 2022/23: 94.8%, 796).
- People aged 30 to 39 (2023/24: 37.9%, 574; 2022/23: 35.5%, 298) made up the highest proportion of those convicted of an offence under the Act during both years.
- VAP was the main offence category for 60.3% (867) of cases in 2023/24 and 57.2% (461) of cases in 2022/23 were the main offence was an offence with the statutory DA aggravator (Section 15).
- In all courts, of those convicted in a DA related case under the Act, a custodial disposal was the main outcome in 30.6% (463) of cases in 2023/24 and 37.1% (312) in 2022/23. At Crown Court in 2023/24, 72% (59) of cases resulted in a custodial outcome; all 7 DA related cases convicted at Crown Court in 2022/23 resulted in a custodial outcome.
- The sentence imposed in 2023/24 was enhanced in 154 cases where there was a conviction for a DA related offence under the Act. The figure for 2022/23 was 90.
- Special measures were put in place in 206 DA related cases under the Act that were dealt with at courts in 2023/24 and 77 of those dealt with in 2022/23.
Notes to editors:
- The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 (the Act) created a new domestic abuse offence which criminalises a course of abusive behaviour. The Act, which came into operation on 21 February 2022, also introduced a statutory aggravator, which can be applied to any other offence. The intention of this bulletin is to report on offences under the Act and is the first in a new series. Information on prosecutions and convictions since the Act’s introduction to the end of the financial year 2023/24 are reported on by court type; gender; age; disposal and offence category. Similar disaggregation has been applied in relation to out of court disposals data. Case processing times for cases with offences under the Act are also reported.
2. The data used in this bulletin were taken from the Causeway Data Sharing Mechanism (DSM1). Causeway is an interconnected information system, launched as a joint undertaking by the Criminal Justice Organisations (CJOs) in Northern Ireland.
3. The prosecutions and convictions figures reported in this bulletin relate to cases disposed at courts where at least one of the offences prosecuted was an offence under the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021. Also included are figures for cases dealt with by way of out of court disposal in the year specified.
4. The case processing time figures reported in this bulletin do not include cases relating to breaches of court orders imposed previously, as they relate to a previous offence and have not proceeded through the various stages in the criminal justice process in the same way that cases relating to other offences may have. Similarly, cases disposed of through an out of court disposal, or which do not reach the end of the full court process, do not go through the standard stages of the court system and, as such, are not directly comparable with cases that have gone through the judicial system. They have therefore not been included in the case processing time figures.
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8. The bulletin will be available in PDF format from either the publication section of this web-site or Analytical Services Group, Financial Services Division, Block B, Castle Buildings, Stormont Estate, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SG
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