DoJ - Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) NI

The Department of Justice (DoJ) coordinates the Tackling Paramilitary Activity, Criminality and Organised Crime Programme which is the Executive’s response to its commitment made under the Fresh Start agreement of November 2015 and the New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) document of 2020. It is reflected in the Programme for Government / Outcomes Delivery Plan and DoJ Corporate Plan for 2022-25. The Tackling Paramilitary Activity, Criminality, and Organised Crime Programme is a collaborative, Executive-wide approach which has the outcome of ‘safer communities, resilient to paramilitarism, criminality and coercive control’. It was initially established in 2016 as a result of the Fresh Start Agreement as a means of implementing the Independent Panel’s Report on the Disbandment of Paramilitary Groups. So far, Programme data confirms the findings of other studies that point to significant levels of trauma in communities where paramilitary activity is prevalent, and among those who are receiving or seeking support from the Programme. For that reason, the Programme is seeking to be trauma informed in all that it does; this means giving due consideration to the impact that trauma has on victims of paramilitarism, as well as those who help and support them. To support this goal, and to better understand need to improve service delivery, the Programme seeks to understand the prevalence of trauma, with the target of establishing a comprehensive baseline of levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACES), childhood trauma and exposure to violence in Northern Ireland. To do so, the Programme wishes to engage a contractor to complete an action research requirement to generate data and produce an associated research report to evidence the prevalence of ACEs, childhood trauma and exposure to violence in Northern Ireland.