This paper is aimed at studying the performance back characteristics of DC corona in wire-to-plane gaps as influenced by back discharge at the ground plane. The back discharge is initiated at the ground plane through slits in a dielectric barrier covering the plane. The study includes the corona current-voltage characteristics of the gap as influenced by the wire radius and the spacing between the wire and plate, as well as the number of slits and width of each slit. Not only the current-voltage characteristics but also the corona initiation and the corona pulse frequency versus voltage characteristics of the gap are investigated in presence and absence of the dielectric barrier with slits.