Justice Minister 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 (www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2021/2/notes/division/4/3/14)
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.
