Motion or amendment: Definition of a Victim
Motion or amendment by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 30 September 2025
- Type
- Motion or amendment
- Business
- Motion · Private Members' Motion
- Heading
- Definition of a Victim
- Assembly identifier
- Document 452127
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
Definition of a Victim
That this Assembly acknowledges that the definition of a victim, as laid out in the Victims and Survivors (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, is unique in respect of services provided by the Victims and Survivors Service; accepts that the widely used definition of a victim remains extant in Northern Ireland; agrees the term innocent victim, in relation to legacy, fairly differentiates those who were harmed, injured, killed or bereaved through no fault of their own from those responsible for perpetrating harm, injury or death on innocent victims; and calls on the Minister of Justice to ensure that there is no obfuscation between what is universally agreed as a victim and a perpetrator within our criminal justice system.
120 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Also tabled by
Each MLA who tabled or co-signed this item has their own record:
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.33 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.70).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.92).
- Subject area: Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism.
- The overall probability was low and the text did not adopt any identity-based framing.
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 | 0.10 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.04 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.06 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.10 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.25 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.70 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.33 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.92 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.01 |
| Adopts it | 0.07 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.99 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9. The text was identical to an already-assessed record, so the same answers were reused.
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