This book provides a detailed exploration of the responses of the criminal justice system to domestic abuse in Northern Ireland.
The book's primary focus is on developments which have taken place since around 2010, and in particular since the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly in January 2020 after a three year suspension. The book includes discussion of the increased levels of domestic abuse in Northern Ireland in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and analyses the ways in which the criminal justice system responded. In addition, the book includes in-depth discussion of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021, which had the effect of criminalising coercive control, and the implications of this legislation for Northern Ireland's response to domestic abuse.
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