First statistics on domestic abuse prosecutions and convictions published
Date published:
Justice Minister Naomi Long welcomes the first official publication of domestic abuse prosecutions and convictions statistics.
The statistics published today relate to the domestic abuse offence (and associated child aggravators) and any other offence aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse, provided for in the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021.
The Minister said: “The implementation of the domestic abuse offence and associated aggravators, in February 2022, was a landmark moment in tackling domestic abuse. The new offences sent out a clear message that all forms of domestic abuse, physical and non-physical, are wrong and won’t be tolerated. I am pleased that we are now starting to see some data coming through which will enable us to analyse the effectiveness of the new legislation and identify any areas for improvement.”
The Minister commented on her intention to publish further information on the implementation of the domestic abuse legislation.
She said: “In the coming months I intend to publish a report which will include statistics on police recorded offences as well as feedback from witnesses on their experiences at court. This additional data will provide a fuller picture and allow us to further analyse how effectively the legislation is operating.”
Notes to editors:
1.The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 (the Act) created a new domestic abuse offence (and associated child aggravators) 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.
2.The intention of the statistical bulletin mentioned is to report on offences under the Act and is the first in a new series.
3.Separately, under section 34 of the 2021 Act, the Department of Justice is required to publish a report on the operation of the domestic abuse offence, child aggravators and generic aggravator.
4.The report, which will be published in the coming months, will set out a range of information including: the number of offences recorded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland; the number of files submitted to the Public Prosecution Service; prosecutions; convictions; and the average length of time for disposal of cases. It will also include information about the level of training under section 32 of the 2021 Act; information about how court business is arranged; the experience at court of witnesses; and efforts to raise awareness of the offence.
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