Tackling domestic abuse in Northern Ireland needs a more effective ‘child-centred’ approach

Speaking following the publication of Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland’s third annual Review of the implementation of Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021(the Act), Ms Durkin said she was concerned that over three years after the legislation was implemented, too often children’s voices were not heard.

“The Act’s clear intention was to recognise the trauma and impact of domestic abuse on all victims,” said Ms Durkin. “It established a legal obligation to identify any child who was a victim of domestic abuse, or a child who saw, heard or was present when the abuse occurred or was used by a perpetrator to facilitate abuse at a victim.

“When the abuse is recognised as being heightened or ‘aggravated’, Judges can impose enhanced sentences when a perpetrator is convicted at Court.”

However, a review of 73 police investigation files and 76 prosecution files found that the identification and application of child aggravators remained inconsistent and were, in many cases, absent.

“Inspectors found there was a reluctance among some Police Officers to engage with children during domestic abuse investigations and a lack of confidence in how to best obtain evidence from them or about them,” said the Chief Inspector.

“Two years on from our first Review, the number of cases where child aggravators were applied remained very low and there was a significant drop-off in their use as the cases progressed from the initial investigation to building a prosecution case and through to prosecution at court.

“Given that in 2024-25 one fifth of all recorded crimes in Northern Ireland had a domestic abuse motivation, this finding on the use of child aggravators is at odds with the high number of domestic abuse incidents police attended where children were present and the 16,025 referrals made to education providers about children under Operation Encompass.

“The failure to adequately hear and respond to the voices of children and what they had experienced in their home was a fundamental weakness in the implementation of the Act that requires urgent action. I have recommended that within six months action must be taken to address this issue by the PSNI and the PPS to ensure the voices of children are heard and considered as intended by the Act.”

Ms Durkin said inspectors undertaking the third Review found positive progress had been made in raising criminal justice system wide awareness about domestic abuse as an offence.

“Inspectors met dedicated and professional police officers and prosecutors who highlighted the complexities of dealing with domestic abuse. I do not underestimate the challenges they face every day in responding to domestic abuse incidents, engaging with victims and their children and progressing investigations and prosecutions,” she said.

“However, this Review found the provision of consistent and quality practice, including sustainable supervision and quality assurance, was impacted not only by resources but the ineffective application of the required skills.”

Inspectors found the quality and consistency of training provided to police officers, prosecutors and Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals staff was a significant concern and had declined over time.

This was despite the mandatory duty on each organisation to provide annual training for their staff to ensure they effectively carried out their responsibilities around domestic abuse cases.

The amount of dedicated domestic abuse training provided to student officers within the PSNI’s Police Foundation Training was inadequate and there was a gap in the supervisory training for newly or temporarily promoted Sergeants.

“The current approach to training was not meeting the requirements of the Act and needs to be addressed.  Investment in training needs to be evident in applied skills and outcomes,” said Ms Durkin.

The Chief Inspector also highlighted the need for the consistency of data being reported to be improved and a lack of joined up data across the criminal justice organisations made it difficult to assess the true extent of domestic abuse and the effectiveness of the criminal justice responses.

“By now the implementation of this Act and use of its powers should be embedded across the criminal justice system.  While there is much more community awareness of domestic abuse, there is still much to be done to ensure the full impact of the Act is realised and it is used as intended to protect victims and their children and bring abusers to justice,” concluded the Chief Inspector.

The PSNI said the report found “positive progress” had been made in raising criminal justice system wide awareness about domestic abuse as an offence.

“It also recognised police officers face a number of difficult challenges on a regular basis when dealing with domestic abuse-related cases,” it added.

Commenting, Detective Chief Superintendent Zoe McKee, Head of Public Protection Branch said: “We continue to work with our partner agencies in the criminal justice system to ensure that we deliver a service that meets the needs and expectations of all victims and witnesses.

“We welcome the findings and the recommendations of the report. As an organisation, we have already commenced a body of work to ensure the voices of children who are impacted by domestic abuse cases are clearly heard and feature in investigations.

“This is year three of our delivery of Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (NI) 2021, which saw us equipped with new legislative tools to target those who perpetrate domestic abuse and protect the most vulnerable.

“Anything we can do to better safeguard victims and children who are impacted by domestic abuse, will be a priority.”

Det Chief Supt McKee added: “We have delivered specialised training in partnership with Women’s Aid – which has a focus on children as victims of domestic abuse cases and the new legislation that holds perpetrators to account.

“Officers from across different departments within the Police Service have attended a series of awareness sessions to ensure they have the required awareness and confidence that they need when dealing with such cases.

“We’re also working with our IT systems internally to help develop and implement a technical solution that assists officers in seamlessly adding child aggravators to case files.

“Training programmes for our custody sergeants have also been developed to ensure child aggravator awareness is captured on our internal systems prior to their disposal.

“We also continue to work with colleagues in the Public Prosecution Service to review and improve processes relating to victims, including developing a robust quality assurance process to monitor the appropriate use of aggravators.

“Domestic abuse remains a Service priority and we are fully committed to delivering for victims and bringing offenders to justice.”