Published date:
“I welcome the publication of this bulletin today, we need to capture appropriate and useful data to improve our criminal justice system for victims of crime. It is also really welcome to see the use of the child aggravator which recognises the harm that domestic abuse causes to children and the need to consider their protection.
“The victims of these crimes need our support and need to know that our society will have a zero tolerance approach to domestic abuse.
“Monitoring the outcomes of these cases is therefore really important as consistent and robust sentencing of those convicted of such crimes helps demonstrate society’s commitment to protecting victims and holding perpetrators accountable for their actions.
“It is concerning that the number of days it takes for these cases to be dealt with across all courts has risen by over 30 days from one year to the next.
“Unnecessary delay is one of the most serious issues consistently raised to me by victims of crime and tackling it must be the key priority of the criminal justice agencies, the Department of Justice and the wider Executive.
“I welcome the commitment from the Minister of Justice to publish a report in the future that will include feedback from victims on their experience at court. Data like that published today is crucial, but it is only one piece of the puzzle and to get a true reflection of the effectiveness of our approach to dealing with domestic abuse, we must hear the voice of the victims too.”