Debate contribution: Ending Violence against Women and Girls
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 14 April 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Ending Violence against Women and Girls
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5482332
Read the official Assembly record
Text
We do a number of things, such as perpetrator programmes. There are opt-in perpetrator programmes for those who, for example, are on remand in the prison system for domestic abuse-related offences. They have the option of taking such a course and engaging in that process. Once people are there as sentenced prisoners, a needs assessment of their rehabilitation is done. A number of desistance programmes are undertaken in prisons. There is one on healthy, happy relationships. Anger management courses are also available to people, and those are often allied with courses on substance misuse, which can trigger some of those incidents. That is happening in prisons. In addition, the Probation Board runs a number of courses for people who have been convicted of domestic abuse offences that are about changing attitudes. Much like drug rehabilitation therapy, part of the issue is that, unless a person has a desire to change, and unless there is a willingness on their behalf to engage properly and thoroughly with those programmes, it can be very difficult to change patterns of abuse. Many of those in prison come forward as victims of abuse or were, for example, exposed to extreme violence as children. Therefore, part of what we try to do as we go through those desistance programmes is look at how we deal with the trauma that they often carry forward into their adult life and adult relationships and the patterns of behaviour that they learned from those around them as a child and that have led to their being an abuser. Breaking that cycle is not straightforward, but it is something that we invest in.
272 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 (0.79).
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.79 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.70 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.25 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.05 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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