Gauke pledges support for crime victims

The government has announced an overhaul of its support for victims of crime, including a major review of the criminal injuries compensation scheme (CICS) and greater support for bereaved families.

Publishing the cross-departmental Victims Strategy paper this week, Justice Secretary David Gauke said it set out ‘the support victims should receive at every stage of their journey through the justice system’. The government will launch a consultation on the plans early next year.

A review of the CICS will begin immediately, considering reform of the time limits for applying and abolition of the ‘unfair and arbitrary’ pre-1979 ‘same roof rule’ under which victims cannot claim if they lived with the perpetrator.

Katie Russell, spokesperson at Rape Crisis England & Wales, said the review was ‘long overdue’ as ‘the current scheme is not fit for purpose and discriminates in particular against victims and survivors of sexual offences’.

Russell said it was encouraging that the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse would be taken into account. She highlighted other issues including the failure to recognise that under-16s cannot consent to their own abuse through the distinction drawn between consent in law and ‘in fact’, the two-year time limit, and the disqualification of victims and survivors with criminal convictions.

Gauke pledged to toughen up enforcement of the Victim’s Code, which sets out the minimum level of service that victims should receive from the justice system, and to introduce victim-friendly waiting areas in court and improve accessibility for the most vulnerable. Local authorities will be supported so that ‘no victim is turned away’ from a refuge.

Court time in the magistrates’ court would be freed up by dealing with crimes with no identifiable victims, such as fare-dodging, outside of court hearings. Vulnerable victims would continue to be able to give evidence through video link.

The government also launched a consultation this week on ‘Establishing an independent public advocate’, who would act for bereaved families after a public disaster such as Hillsborough and support them with any subsequent inquests and inquiries. The consultation ends on 3 December 2018.