New report calls for more training for PSNI to help support children impacted by domestic abuse

Three years after new domestic abuse legislation was introduced in Northern Ireland, a new report has found more needs to be done to better support children and victims.

It's the second review by a watchdog of how well the new laws are working, after they came into effect in 2022.

The first review last year made 11 recommendations and the second report published on Wednesday assessed progress against those recommendations.

Jacqui Durkin, chief inspector of criminal justice in Northern Ireland, said inspectors had assessed that good or reasonable progress had been made in respect of eight of the recommendations.

But she expressed concern at a lack of progress on the other three recommendations, two of which related to the PSNI.

She says there needs to be more training within the PSNI:

"There's some further work that needs to be done around specific training for specific skills and making sure that every police officer who is involved and in contact with a domestic abuse victim, knows the appropriate response to that."

Ms Durkin noted that, in 2023/24, 32,763 domestic abuse incidents and 19,954 domestic abuse crimes were recorded by the PSNI, with a further 15,298 incidents and 9,228 domestic abuse crimes recorded by the police between April 1 and September 30 2024.

"Each one of those incidents which occur on average every 16 minutes represents at least one victim and in too many cases their child, who has been impacted by domestic abuse in Northern Ireland," said the chief inspector.

"This second annual review focused on action taken and progress made towards implementing the recommendations made 12 months ago in our first annual review, rather than making a judgment on whether recommendations were fully achieved or not at this stage.

"It was encouraging that inspectors found evidence of good or reasonable progress being made against eight of the 11 initial review report recommendations.

"But it was concerning that of the remaining three recommendations, inspectors found insufficient progress and no meaningful progress had been made on two recommendations made to the PSNI."

The CJINI also identified that insufficient progress had been made by the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service against a recommendation to improve the accuracy and consistency of recording court outcomes where enhanced sentencing provisions were and were not applied.

Ms Durkin added: "It is vital that quality data and information including complete and accurate court records are available on the Act's impact including the use of aggravating factors. This should be ambitious and not designed to meet the bare minimum but provide information, to not only to inform the criminal justice system, victims, and stakeholders, but to foster public confidence in the difference the Act is making."

In the first review report, inspectors highlighted a need for cultural change in how domestic abuse was understood and dealt with by those in the criminal justice system.

Ms Durkin said inspectors were pleased with progress in this area.

She said there was evidence that police officers and prosecutors had begun to develop a broader understanding of what domestic abuse was, the impact it had on victims and witnesses, particularly children, and how it was investigated and prosecuted.

"It was very clear however there is still work to be done in closing the gap between the aggravating factors identified by the PSNI and those that lead to a prosecution and a conviction, are considered by judges and are apparent in sentences and outcomes," she added.

"Greater focus on delivering effective training on children in domestic abuse cases within the PSNI was also needed. It is also important the impact on children of offending that occurs in a domestic situation or context is recognised and the deterrent effects of an enhanced sentence, as intended by the legislation, are realised. There is more to do in this area."

In response to the review, PSNI Detective Superintendent Paul Woods, from the Public Protection Branch, said: "Much work has been undertaken already to address the societal issue of domestic abuse and this report has outlined our progress whilst also setting out a series of recommendations, all of which we accept as a police service. Anything we can do to better safeguard victims and children who are impacted by domestic abuse, we will.

"To date, thousands of officers and staff have undertaken bespoke training online but numbers for our in-person sessions are not where we want them to be.

"We are never complacent and will be further enhancing training this year to ensure compliance, also making it available to our call handlers to ensure incident calls and risk are appropriately graded, and the right systems and assessment tools utilised.

"We have spent significant time working with our partners in the Public Prosecution Service focusing on fine-tuning our response. We want to ensure every investigation and file submission are of the highest quality, we recognise the need to place a firmer focus on child aggravations so they are front and centre in our frontline's considerations.

"Work has already commenced to look at the recommendations from this further review and we will seek to address all of them within the timescales."

Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long welcomed the report.

She said: "The report notes positive action has been taken across the entire justice system and I am grateful for this: however, more needs to be done.

"This was the first piece of legislation that I brought through as Justice Minister, which demonstrates its importance.

"I was clear then and I am clear now that domestic abuse, in all its forms, is wrong and will not be tolerated in Northern Ireland.

"I urge all criminal justice agencies not to lose focus and to continue efforts to implement the recommendations CJINI has made at pace."

A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service said: "NICTS is committed to working with its judicial partners to ensure that the information on court records accurately reflects any relevant convictions and direction of the judiciary."

PPS senior assistant director and victims champion Marianne O'Kane welcomed the review's publication.

"Tackling domestic abuse is a key priority of the PPS," she said.

"We consider all cases carefully, sensitively and objectively.

"Our prosecutors are trained to understand the complexities of domestic abuse in all its forms, including the impact of trauma on victims.

"We welcome the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland's review into progress in implementing domestic abuse legislation by the criminal justice system, including the PPS, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service and the Department of Justice.

"We are pleased that the review recognises the positive progress that has been made since the initial review in 2024 and the good work going on across the criminal justice system, including in the PPS.

"It is encouraging to see that of the three recommendations that relate to the PPS, the review notes good progress on one, and reasonable progress on two.

"There is no doubt that there remains much more to do across the criminal justice system to continually improve the collective approach to these cases, against a backdrop of funding pressures and increasing demand and complexity of cases."

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