Debate contribution: Sectarian Hate Crimes
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 13 October 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Sectarian Hate Crimes
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5175572
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Intersectionality forms part of the hate-crime legislation that we hope to bring forward, and there will be aggravating factors where a hate-crime motive for the signalling offence can be proven. We will also prosecute those as stand-alone offences so that, if a hate-crime motivation cannot be proven, a person can still be held accountable for their crime. Membership of a paramilitary organisation is a criminal offence. It can be prosecuted, and jail terms for it are available in legislation. If somebody is arrested for a hate crime, and they are also proven to be a member of a paramilitary organisation, there is nothing to preclude the two offences from being taken through the court together, as is the case in circumstances where somebody is arrested for an offence and there is also a paramilitary link to the crime. We will also be bringing forward, through the Bill, additional means of sentencing and additional offences around participating in and directing organised crime. That is important because, whilst all paramilitary organisations have a finger in organised crime, not all organised crime organisations are involved in paramilitarism. We need to untangle all that, so it is important that we look at those issues as well. When it comes to my views on the legitimising of illegal groups by those kinds of engagements, whether of other Ministers or an interlocutor appointed by the two Governments, I have been clear that that is unhelpful. The confidence of a community is shaken when they see people being treated as the spokespeople for a community but that community sees those people very much as having a jackboot on their neck.
273 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: 0.16 (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 (0.81).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.63).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- 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 | 0.13 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.09 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.07 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.18 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.13 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.81 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.16 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.35 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.63 |
| Adopts it | 0.01 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.96 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.04 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:27 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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