Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

In September 2018, the Government published its cross-government Victims Strategy. It sets out a criminal justice system wide response to improving the support offered to victims of crime and incorporates actions from all criminal justice agencies, including the police, CPS and courts.

It is divided into 5 key sections

1. overarching commitments. These include:

• Strengthening the Victims’ Code, and consulting on the detail of victim focused legislation, including strengthening the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner, and delivering a Victims’ Law.
• Holding agencies to account for compliance with the Victims’ Code through improved reporting, monitoring and transparency.
• Developing the detail on the role of the Independent Public Advocate for bereaved families who have lost loved ones in extraordinary and tragic events.
• Abolishing the rule which denied compensation for some victims who lived with their attacker prior to 1979 and consulting on further changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.

2. improving support for all victims of crime, whether or not they report the crime. This includes commitments to:

• Increase spending from £31 million in 2018 to £39 million in 2020/21 to improve services and pathways for survivors and victims of sexual violence and abuse who seek support to and from Sexual Assault Referral Centres.
• Develop a new delivery model for victim support services, coordinating funding across government.
• Expand and extend support available to families bereaved by homicide, including bringing in new funding for advocacy support for families bereaved by domestic homicide.
• Spend £8 million on interventions to ensure support is available to children who witness domestic abuse.
• Pilot the ‘Child House’ model in London, whereby multiple services are brought together in a child-friendly environment to minimise additional trauma.

3. improving victim support after a crime has been reported. This includes commitments to:

• Introduce improved police training, including new guidance on conducting interviews and collecting evidence, and a trial of body worn cameras to take Victim Personal Statements.
• Increase the number of Registered Intermediaries, communication experts helping vulnerable victims and witnesses give their best evidence at police interview and at court, by 25%.
• Increase opportunities for victims to engage in alternative solutions to court.
• Improve overall victim communication, including when explaining decisions not to prosecute and on the right to review Crown Prosecution Service decisions.

4. better support for victims during the court process. This includes commitments to:

• Improve the court environment, with new victim-friendly waiting areas and a new court design guide focussing on accessibility for the most vulnerable.
• Free up court time in the magistrates’ court by dealing with crimes with no identifiable victim (e.g. fare evasion) outside court hearings.
• Continue to use video links to allow vulnerable victims to provide evidence away from the defendant and courtroom altogether.
• Encourage take up of pre-trial therapy by launching new guidance and a toolkit for prosecutors and therapists.

5. making sure victims understand a court’s decision, the implications for them, and for the offender. This includes commitments to:

• Review and consider extending the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme so victims and the public can have sentences reconsidered by the Court of Appeal.
• Reform the Victim Contact Scheme, making it easier to opt in, introducing more frequent communication, and greater use of digital contact methods.
• Improve Victim Liaison Officer training, especially in supporting victims during parole hearings and in making a Victim Personal Statement.
• Review and consider whether any improvements need to be made to entitlements for victims of mentally disordered offenders.

This is substantial agenda of what seem to me to be good ideas. Some of them can be implemented quickly. Others will take more time. What is therefore also needed is a committment to publish progress reports which show how these initiatives are developing throughout the country.

Source: Adapted from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/victims-strategy/victims-strategy-html-version where the full text of the strategy statement can be found.