My research examines how domestic abuse risk is assessed, interpreted and managed within probation practice in Northern Ireland. Conducted in collaboration with the Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI), the project explores how structured risk assessment processes operate in practice and how they inform decisions about supervision, intervention and risk management.
A particular focus of the research is the challenge of assessing coercive and controlling behaviour. Domestic abuse is often patterned, cumulative and hidden, meaning that an individual’s recorded offending may not fully represent the nature or extent of the harm experienced by victim-survivors. My research therefore considers how probation practitioners understand and assess risk beyond individual incidents, how victim-survivor perspectives are incorporated into this process, and how organisational pressures and resource constraints may shape assessment and subsequent intervention decisions.
The project developed from a broader academic interest in institutional responses to domestic abuse and gendered violence. My MSc dissertation, Holding the System Together: Women’s Aid Practitioners’ Experiences of Domestic Abuse Support Provision in Northern Ireland, explored the experiences of practitioners working within specialist domestic abuse services. Through qualitative interviews with Women’s Aid practitioners, I examined the impact of funding and resource constraints on service provision. This research strengthened my interest in how policy commitments, such as the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, translate into responses to domestic abuse in everyday practice.
