Labour welcomes Victims’ Taskforce Report which spells out a new Victims’ Law and backs an overhaul of the way victims and witnesses are treated

Labour today backs radical proposals to put victims and witnesses at the heart of the justice system.

The report, published by Labour’s Victims’ Taskforce, calls for an end-to-end transformation in the way the police, prosecution services and courts deal with victims and witnesses. It sets out how a Victims’ Law should be the first step in changing the Criminal Justice System into a Criminal Justice Service.

Amongst the recommendations in the report are ground-breaking proposals for a Victims’ Law that include:
• A Right to Report, so crimes can be reported in a safe way and not necessarily in a police station.
• A Right to Record, so that victims always have their crime recorded;
• A Right to Review, so that a case can still be reviewed if charges are not brought.
• A Right to Information, so that information can be accessed online about a case at every stage of the process, keeping victims up to date.
• A Right to Decency, so that judges are required to control the cross-examination in court of vulnerable victims and witnesses.
• Making the existing Victims’ Code legally enforceable, backed by an effective and accessible enforcement body.

And the report calls for:
• Every police force area, through an annual Area Victims’ Plan, to provide adequate and quality assured victims services;
• A statutory and mandatory duty on those working with children in regulated activities to report suspected abuse, backed up with criminal sanctions; and
• The introduction of national standards for the review of homicide cases where no one has been brought to justice.

The Taskforce was established in December 2013 by Ed Miliband MP and Sadiq Khan MP and is made up of former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Keir Starmer QC, Labour peer Doreen Lawrence, and Peter Neyroud, former Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and a criminologist at Cambridge University.

Labour plans to take forwards many of the recommendations in this report, which will form the basis of the Victims’ Law that Labour has committed to bring forward in the next Parliament.

Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“Our criminal justice system doesn’t serve victims well. For too long, victims and witnesses have been treated as an afterthought, or worse still ignored altogether. Victims lacking confidence and not coming forward means the wheels of justice grind to a halt. I welcome the recommendations put forward by Keir, Doreen and Peter. We will take this report and run with it in Government, using it as the basis for the victims’ law we so desperately need”

Sadiq Khan MP, Shadow Justice Secretary, said:

“We can’t go on treating victims and witnesses so poorly. While the Tory-led Government keeps letting down victims, Labour’s proposals would see a step change in the experiences of victims and witnesses. Only by giving victims and witnesses clear legal rights will police, prosecution services and courts change their culture so it is victim centred”

Sir Keir Starmer QC said:

“We need to transform the criminal justice system into a criminal justice service. After 14 months of detailed work and wide consultation, we have concluded that there need to be a cultural shift in the way victims’ are deal with in our criminal justice system. The enactment of a Victims’ Law should be a defining moment. That is why we have set out clear recommendations, which we believe should form the basis of the next Labour Government’s Victims’ Law.
“It’s also clear that we need to take an unequivocal stand against the deliberate non-reporting of child sex abuse. We can’t put up with repeats of Rotherham, Rochdale, Derby or Oxford. That’s why we believe the time has come for a clear mandatory duty on those working with children such as social workers and teachers in schools and care homes to report suspected child sex abuse.”

Baroness Doreen Lawrence said:

“I was glad to be asked to take part in the Victims’ Taskforce as I felt having a victim’s voice was so important. Listening to other people’s experiences demonstrated the need for having something that put victims at the heart of the criminal justice system. The recommendations if implemented will go a long way to achieving that”.

Peter Neyroud said:

“From the time we’ve spent consulting with victims and witnesses, experts and charities it’s clear there’s a strong desire for tougher legal rights for victims and witnesses. Our report makes clear our view that the time has come for a Victims’ Law, which would be a defining moment for victims’ rights. A key starting point is for the police to have a clear legal duty to record crime because, as victims told us, unless their crime is recorded, few if any of the wider rights and support come into play”