Victims
Criminal Justice Bill and Victims Proposals
Radical legislation to rebalance the Criminal Justice System in favour of victims, witnesses and communities has been unveiled by the Home Secretary. The proposed end-to-end reforms will help reduce crime, bring more offenders to justice and make punishments work more effectively.
Also published is a summary document outlining the specific measures for victims and witnesses that the Government is committed to introducing.
In conjunction with the Police Reform Act 2002 and the forthcoming Courts Bill, the new measures would overhaul and modernise the Criminal Justice System. The proposals would ensure that more criminals are caught and convicted, that victims get a better deal and that communities are properly protected through appropriate punishment for offenders that also seeks to rehabilitate and reduce the chances of further offending.
The Bill safeguards the central principles of our justice system: that a person is innocent until proven guilty and that jury trial is and should be the norm.
The Bill includes proposals to:
Reduce reoffending on bail by giving the police powers to impose conditions on bail before charge; extending prosecution's right to appeal against bail
Build strong cases to put before the court by allowing the CPS to determine the charge and improving the disclosure of information by the prosecution and defence
Get the case to trial quickly by giving sentence indication to encourage early guilty pleas and increasing magistrates' sentencing powers to 12 months
Reduce the chance of the accused 'playing the system' and escaping justice if guilty by allowing the use of reported evidence and improving defence and prosecution disclosure with increased incentives and sanctions to ensure compliance
Simplify and modernise our approach to evidence;
Reduce exemption from jury service so that more people serve
Provide for judge alone trial in some difficult to manage fraud trials or with trials involving complex financial information and in cases involving jury intimidation
Enable witnesses to give evidence by live TV links
Increase sentences for dangerous violent and sex offenders
Ensure persistent offenders receive progressively more severe sentences
Provide clearer and more rigorous community punishments
Focus the sentencing framework on crime reduction through rehabilitation, deterrence and reparation alongside the continuing key aim of public protection and punishment
Strengthen the police in their fight against crime through amendments to PACE
Extend drug testing and treatment provision so that even more offenders can tackle their addiction and cut drug related crime.
Click here to link to the Criminal Justice Bill
The Government published a White Paper on Criminal Justice Reform – 'Justice for All' on 17 July 2002.
Many of the proposals in this paper do not need legislation to implement. The White Paper set out the importance of fundamental reform to the way cases are managed through the courts. The Case Preparation Project plays a pivotal role in tackling the effectiveness of a core part of this 'end to end' process, from the point of charge through to disposal. The project, which aims to deliver a reduction in the level of ineffective trials and improve service to victims and witnesses, has a critical role in developing some wide ranging and innovative proposals to effect major change to systems, processes, capacity and culture to deliver improved performance locally.
Last update: 28/11/02