About 97% of domestic abuse cases being handled by lower-level courts latest official figures show

Official figures released today also show that a dozen people aged 10 to 17-years-old are among those to have now been convicted of domestic abuse in Northern Ireland.

The Department of Justice released the figures to show how the new offence – created by minister Naomi Long in 2021 – is playing out in the courts.

Her change in the law meant that 'domestic abuse' could be considered an aggravating factor if someone was charged with an act of violence, for example.

In addition, the act also criminalised non-violent behaviour like causing somebody "psychological harm".

It has become one of the PSNI’s priorities.

Today’s figures show that in 2023/24, some 96.6% of prosecutions involving domestic abuse took place in magistrates' courts where sentencing power is lower, with only 3.4% of cases being sent to the Crown court.

In 2022/23, the figure had been even more stark: 99.4% of cases were handled by magistrates' courts, and 0.6% in Crown.

The figures show that in 2023/24 there were 2,728 prosecutions over both types of court, with a conviction rate of 55%.

In 2022/23, the figure was 1,625 prosecutions, with a conviction rate of 52%.

Meanwhile some 513 cases spanning both years were dealt with by "out-of-court disposals" like cautions.

Delving deeper into the figures shows that across both 2022/23 and 2023/24, a dozen people aged from 10 to 17 were convicted of domestic abuse, while 69 had been given "out-of-court disposals".

The most common age bracket of perpetrators was 30-39 (accounting for over one-third of convictions across both years), while over 9/10 of those convicted were male.

In both 2022/23 and 2023/24, around three-fifths of all the convictions for domestic abuse involved some kind of violence.

Asked about why only 3% of cases are passed up to the Crown courts to deal with, the PPS said: “Tackling domestic abuse is a key priority of the PPS. We handle all cases in line with our Policy for Prosecuting Cases of Domestic Abuse, and consider them carefully, sensitively and objectively.

“The PPS will carefully consider the individual facts and circumstances of each case before deciding whether a prosecution in the Crown Court or the Magistrates’ Court is appropriate.

"A key consideration will be the likely sentence upon conviction and whether the sentencing powers of the Magistrates’Court, which can impose a sentence of 12 months imprisonment, are sufficient.

“The vast majority of the cases covered in the department’s publication do not involve prosecutions for the new domestic abuse offence.

"Rather, they are prosecutions for pre-existing offences to which the prosecution has applied a domestic abuse aggravator. As the bulletin explains, an offence is so aggravated if, in committing the offence, the person intends to cause, or is reckless about causing, an individual to which they are personally connected, to suffer physical or psychological harm.

"There is no specified threshold as regards the level of harm required.

“The outcomes recorded in the bulletin demonstrate that, in most cases, the court has imposed a sentence that does not involve immediate custody upon conviction for an offence brought under the Act.

"However, where the PPS considers that a sentence of more than 12 months imprisonment may be appropriate having regards to the circumstances of the case and the alleged offender, proceedings in the Crown Court are brought.

"Those occurred in relation to 93 cases which were concluded in 2023/4.

“We encourage anyone who has been the victim of domestic abuse to please report their experiences to the police.”