Click here to go to the consultation – deadline 11.59pm on Thursday 3 February
Through this consultation, the government is inviting the public to make their views known about how victims’ experiences of the criminal justice system can be improved across England and Wales.
The government wants to establish a landmark ‘Victims’ Law’. Building on the Victims’ Code, they aim to make a tangible difference to ensuring all victims of crime receive the support they need through and beyond the criminal justice process.
We would like to encourage everyone with expertise in this area – whether through work or lived experience - to put in a submission to the consultation, however short, and make your voice heard.
Centre for Women’s Justice will be putting in a submission based on published evidence and our casework experience. This will primarily focus on three areas:
1. Inappropriate criminalisation of victims of domestic abuse and other forms of VAWG
Nearly 60% of women in prison and under community supervision in England and Wales are victims of domestic abuse. Research by CWJ and others has shown how women’s offending is often directly linked to their own experience of domestic abuse, and how victims can be criminalised in a wide variety of ways. This is also reflected in cases referred to our legal advice team, and in the work of Justice for Women and our director Harriet Wistrich over many years.
The Victims’ Bill consultation document does not address the treatment of victims of domestic abuse and other forms of VAWG and exploitation who are accused of an offence that arises out of their experience of abuse. This is a significant gap which we believe needs to be addressed. In our submission we are arguing for the Victims’ Bill to include new statutory defences and for improvements in policy and practice to be implemented to protect victims from inappropriate criminalisation.
2. Improving advocacy support
It is widely understood that the criminal justice system is not delivering for victims in rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) cases at present. Based on our casework experience, we believe that one important way to address this is for sexual violence survivors to receive independent legal advice, and in some instances legal representation, alongside ISVA support. Independent legal advice is necessary both because of difficulties in the way the criminal justice system operates for victims in RASSO cases, and because of the need to build confidence for victims in these cases and to vastly improve their experience of the process.
3. Reforms needed to the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR)
We are putting forward in our submission five main problems with the VRR scheme, which are relevant to a number of questions in the consultation. In our experience the VRR scheme is not operating adequately to support victims’ rights as intended. This is for two reasons: firstly, because it is not accessed by a huge proportion of victims. Secondly, because where it is accessed, victims are not given a sufficient opportunity to participate actively, but are expected to be mere passive recipients whose only role is to make a request to trigger the process, and then leave it to the criminal justice agencies to do the rest. We have called for reforms to address five aspects of the VRR process which are not working adequately in the interests of victims:
Being informed of NFA decisions and the existence of the VRR scheme
Being informed of the reasons for an NFA decision
Being given the opportunity to make representations and having these taken into account in the VRR process
Expertise of police reviewing officers conducting VRRs
Timing of VRR where CPS decide to offer no evidence, to allow for a VRR to be requested before the CPS formally offers no evidence so that justice can be done in those cases where the VRR is upheld.
The need for children born as a result of rape to be recognised as ‘secondary victims’ of crime (“Daisy’s Law”)
As part of our consultation response, we are supporting a campaign brought by our client, ‘Daisy[1]’ – who has also supplied her own separate response this consultation – to introduce legislation which recognises children born of rape as ‘secondary victims’ of crime, and affords them rights for the first time under the Victims’ Code.
Affording ‘rape-conceived’ persons this status in the Victims’ Bill will, it is hoped, help counter the dearth of recognition and support currently available for children (and adults) who are born as a result of rape, for whom such a discovery can be profoundly traumatic.
In addition, affording individuals born of rape their own statutory right to pursue a criminal complaint, if they wish to do so – will significantly improve the prospect of historic rape/child sexual abuse offences being recorded and investigated. It may even in prosecutions being brought – where appropriate – in cases where the pregnancy itself is/was compelling evidence of the crime.
Please put in your own submission and make your views heard!
The Victims’ Commissioner, Vera Baird, has added further guidance and her own responses to the consultation here - Commissioner website
[1] Daisy will not be using her full name in any campaign material, so as to avoid any risk that her birth mother (who, as a victim of rape, is entitled to lifelong anonymity) is not publicly identified.