Published date:
“The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act sent an important message to victims that these crimes would be taken seriously – we now have to match that promise with action.
“I welcome the Criminal Justice Inspectorate Northern Ireland (CJINI) report into this Act, these reports are a vital way of monitoring how our criminal justice system has implemented this act.
“Any new legislation can provide challenges to embed operationally and there is an acknowledgement in this report that all criminal justice agencies have made an effort to get this right, to implement this act effectively and to make sure their staff were trained on its implications.
“However, there is no place for complacency and it is vital that all of these agencies continue this work, while also accepting CJINI’s recommendations for further improvements.
“I particularly welcome the call for greater strategic collaboration between the PSNI and education partners to make sure Operation Encompass is effective in protecting children.
“I am concerned that this is yet another CJINI report highlighting the lack of effective communication between criminal justice bodies and victims.
“Time and time again victims of crime have told me that better communication from criminal justice bodies is something they want to see.
“Reports like this from CJINI are crucial. What we need, in order to complement and support these reports, is for the criminal justice bodies to capture and publish more data. It is only through this data collection and publication that we can monitor the effectiveness of implementation and better identify issues and make improvements across the system.”