First Statistics on Domestic Abuse Prosecutions and Convictions 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.”

ENDS