Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 8 June 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5600825
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for giving way. I want to offer assurance to the Member and other members of the Committee that the amendment will not cut across our work to protect children or vulnerable adults who have been coerced into committing a crime; nor will it limit the ability to refer those who have been coerced to the national referral mechanism (NRM) and provide them with the necessary supports. We would not want to be a position in which we could not do that, and it will be for the police to judge whether somebody was a willing participant in whatever organised crime activity has happened or whether they were placed under pressure to do so. We do not want to stand in the way of people getting the support that they need if they have been coerced.
Again, I thank the Member for giving way; she has been very generous. I have raised the matter with the Chief Constable and the Policing Board. I have also raised it with the modern slavery commissioner, who is independent. It is concerning that, very often, what people see is not what they think of as slavery. People's perceptions can warp their view on whether it is an offence. Similarly, with trafficking, people assume that it means that people are being moved across boundaries or across the country. In fact, trafficking simply means to make somebody available for exploitation. Sometimes, language can be a barrier to people seeing the crime for what it is. We are working to address that, because I want to ensure that the young people and vulnerable adults who have been made available for criminal exploitation in their community and been coerced into criminal activity do not get lost but get the supports that they are entitled to as victims of modern slavery and trafficking.
307 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.91).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.03 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.91 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.55 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.15 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.14 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.09 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.06 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:55 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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