Member's statement: Criminal Justice System: Victims and Witnesses
Member's statement by Mr Doug Beattie MC on .
- MLA
- Mr Doug Beattie MC
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 5 March 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Criminal Justice System: Victims and Witnesses
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4252331
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I have been watching with interest the campaign on our TV screens in regard to the Victim Charter and the Witness Charter. That brought me back to an incident with one of my staff, who witnessed the attempted abduction of a young woman and had the courage to go to the police about it. Her experience after giving that evidence has not been as good as it should have been, so I want to delve into the figures on what happens to our victims and witnesses once a crime takes place. While it is encouraging that 77% of victims and witnesses report being provided with the name and address of the officer in charge of their case, just one third — 41% of victims and 24% of witnesses — are officially informed about the progress of their case within one month of giving a statement to the police. Almost one fifth of victims and witnesses wait over six months for an official update. Shockingly, 11% report receiving no official communication whatsoever. There has been a serious decline in the proportion of witnesses reporting that they were kept informed by the criminal justice system, plummeting from 68% to 58%. Equally troubling is the revelation that a significant number of witnesses are unaware of the sentences that are handed out to the perpetrators in their cases. In 2022-23, only 73% of victims, overall, knew the sentence, and the corresponding percentage for witnesses was lower. While satisfaction rates for the adult witness service and the young witness service are relatively high at 60% overall, it is crucial to recognise that those figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) on the victim and witness experience of the Northern Ireland criminal justice system, do not, for some unexplained reason, include the victims and witnesses of domestic abuse and sexual crimes. That is incredible, and it is a glaring omission, considering the unique challenges faced by those individuals and their heightened vulnerability. It is time to confront that glaring disparity head-on. Victims and witnesses, regardless of the nature of the crime, deserve to be heard and supported throughout the legal process.
358 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: 0.04 (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 (0.93).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- 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 | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.93 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.46 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.30 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.22 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.01 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:43 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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