Helping victims and witnesses

The Government's Crime Reduction Strategy

Helping victims and witnesses

Action points

50% more funding for Victim Support by April 2000;

Pagers for intimidated witnesses so that they do not have to wait in court buildings in the same room as the defendant;

A ban on the cross-examination of the victims of rape and serious sexual assault by unrepresented defendants; and greater restrictions on questioning rape victims about their sexual history;

Escorts to and from court – by end of Spring 2000;

Video recorded evidence, live TV links, screens and communication aids for adult and child witnesses likely to be intimidated and distressed by facing the defendant in court – to be introduced by the end of 2000 in the Crown Court;

Clearing the public gallery in some cases where witnesses are likely to be distressed by the presence of the defendants’ supporters – by the end of 2000 in the Crown Court;

New measures to help child and adult witnesses including video-recorded pre-trial cross-examination, and intermediaries to help them give evidence and understand questioning – to be introduced by Autumn 2001.

Key facts

Victim Support offers help to more than one million victims of crime and to more than 120,000 witnesses each year.

In the 14 years since Victim Support schemes were started the annual number of referrals has grown to over 1 million.

Young people, particularly young men, are most prone to being the victim of violence. People aged 65 and over have the lowest risk.

Overall, people were less worried about crime in 1998 than in 1996. The proportion of people very worried about crime fell from 22% to 19% for burglary, 19% to 18% for mugging, and 25% to 21% for theft of cars.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority received 75,030 applications during 1996/97 (their first year of operation).

2. Victims of crime and witnesses must be supported and helped, in the same way as perpetrators of crime must be adequately dealt with and punished. We have made clear our commitment to this. But the role of victims and witnesses in crime reduction is wider than that and just as significant. In order to reduce crime, we need strong communities that stand up against criminals. This means providing both adequate support to the victims of crime in those communities, but also creating a criminal justice system in which the needs of victims and witnesses are recognised. Increased confidence in the criminal justice system is essential to help bring about fast, effective justice when crime is committed. Confident communities who are willing to stand up against criminals and tackle local crime collectively are essential to help us reduce crime.

Victim Support

3. In recognition of the vital role that Victim Support play in helping victims of crime, we have provided an extra £1 million since May 1997, taking their total grant to £12.7 million. Part of this extra funding was used to launch a national helpline, Victim Supportline, in February 1998. Victim Support's annual grant will increase further to £18.3 million in April 2000 and to £19 million in April 2001. We are working with Victim Support to introduce a system for families of homicide victims to receive travelling expenses if the case goes to trial. As well as improving its community based schemes and Crown Court Witness Services, Victim Support will be introducing a new witness support service in magistrates' courts across the country.

4. The Home Office also provides a grant to Support After Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM), a self help group for the surviving relatives and friends of homicide victims. They were first provided with a grant of £43k in April 1998 – which prevented them from possible closure – and this was raised to £100k from April 1999. SAMM provide a complementary service to that delivered by Victim Support and this new cash will enable them to extend their services to other parts of the country and to develop further.

Vulnerable or intimidated witnesses

5. A review into the needs of vulnerable or intimidated witnesses was announced in June 1997, leading to the production of a consultation document, Speaking Up for Justice, in June 1998. Following feedback, those measures requiring legislation were enacted in the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act which received Royal Assent in July. A detailed implementation plan for the whole package was published in November. Among the measures to be introduced are:

Greater protection for rape victims, with a ban on victims being cross-examined by the defendant in person and further restrictions on the cross-examination on the victim’s sexual history;

New measures to help child witnesses, including videoed pre-trial cross-examination and the use of intermediaries to help children give evidence;

A range of measures to assist vulnerable or intimidated witnesses give their evidence such as the use of screens, live TV links, video recorded interviews of witnesses and assistance with communication where this is needed.

The Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence

6. Although most of Sir William Macpherson’s report focuses on the police, there are a number of recommendations concerning the treatment of victims and witnesses. A Victim Support working party is looking at its own practice and procedure in this area, and other multi agency work is being carried out and reported to the Home Secretary’s Steering Group which is taking forward the action points from the report.

Keeping victims informed and taking their views into account

7. Good practice guidance is being drawn up for the criminal justice agencies on how to keep victims informed of case progress. Both the Glidewell report and then the Macpherson inquiry have recommended that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) should have responsibility for informing victims about their own s decisions. The CPS has drawn up an action plan with a view to national implementation from April 2001.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

8. Britain’s criminal injuries compensation scheme is probably the most generous in the world. In 1998-99 the scheme paid out nearly £200 million to over 46,000 successful claimants. The scheme is intended to provide an expression of public sympathy for the innocent victims of violent crime, not to compensate them completely. A consultation exercise launched in March this year invited feedback on ideas for changing the rules of the scheme and eligibility for payments, including the possibility of making payments to same sex partners in fatal cases (for example, after an incident like the Soho nail bomb).