Delivering Justice for Victims

Dominic Raab Excerpts

Thursday 9th December 2021 Written Statements

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Dominic Raab)]

Today the Government are publishing a package of measures that will collectively raise the voice of victims in our criminal justice system and strengthen the accountability of all the agencies charged with supporting them.

We are publishing a consultation on a new victims’ law: “Delivering justice for victims—a consultation on improving victims’ experiences of the justice system”. The consultation seeks views on how we can:

Improve communication from agencies with victims, including through an explicit requirement for a prosecutor in a case or certain types of cases to have met with the victim before the charging decision, so that victims’ voices are amplified in the criminal justice process.

Mainstream the use of community impact statements, so that the voice of whole communities is strengthened and the police, CPS and court understand the wider scale and extent to which crime can blight whole neighbourhoods.

Clarify and sharpen accountability for when victims do not receive the right level of service, by enshrining the victims’ code in law and strengthening oversight mechanisms through reinforced inspection regimes nationally and police and crime commissioners locally.

Increase the victim surcharge so criminals pay millions of pounds more towards crucial victim services and therefore take greater responsibility for the cost of supporting victims to recover from what they have suffered.

Improve provision of community-based services and strengthen support available from Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs).

The Government are also announcing:

The start of a national roll-out of provision of pre-recorded cross-examination for sexual and modern slavery victims to all Crown courts, which will mean that more victims can benefit from recording their evidence earlier in the process and outside of the courtroom, subject to judicial discretion.

The publication of national criminal justice scorecards which will give a cross-system view of performance, so we can better monitor performance, understand problems in the system, and address them more effectively, whilst spreading the very best practice widely.

The publication of a progress report on the end-to-end rape review action plan and the first ever scorecard on adult rape, which will mean that we can hold criminal justice agencies to account for delivering improvements in outcomes for this horrendous crime.

Together these measures will contribute to our plan to give victims the justice they deserve, and build back a better, stronger, fairer country. The consultation is available at: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/victim-policy/delivering-justice-for-victims

[HCWS457]