Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill

Victims Bill unlikely to achieve sufficient change given existing criminal justice backlogs

A principal purpose of the draft Bill is to improve victims’ experience of the criminal justice system but it is not clear that the Bill as drafted will do enough to achieve the change required. It has also been published against a backdrop of significant court backlogs, with victims of … Read more A principal purpose of the draft Bill is to improve victims’ experience of the criminal justice system but it is not clear that the Bill as drafted will do enough to achieve the change required. It has also been published against a backdrop of significant court backlogs, with victims of crime too often waiting years for their cases to come to court, and criminal legal aid advocates turning away from the profession. The Government is taking steps in tackling those deep-rooted problems but until they are resolved victims will continue to suffer harm for too long. (Paragraph 154) 60 Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill stniop gnitfarD :xennA noisulcnoc eettC esnopser JoM noitseuQ txeT esualC snosrep hcihw yfiralc ot devorpmi eb dluohs gnidroW .detoN dedeen sdrow yna erA ton seod noitces sihT“ )9(5 laitnetop diova ot seitud eht fo tnuocca ekat ot deen ohW ?”ekat“ erofeb erusolcsid a eriuqer .noisufnoc ekat“ dluohs tahw ro fi noitamrofni fo eht ”tnuocca otni dluow erusolcsid eht ?seitud tnaveler atad eht enevartnoc noitalsigel noitcetorp gninimreted ni tub( erusolcsid a rehtehw ekat ,os od dluow eht tnuocca otni siht yb desopmi seitud ”.)noitces snrecnoc siht taht yfiralc ot devorpmi eb dluohs gnidroW )d()5(01 noitces ni desu taht stcefler gnidrow sihT tahw raelcnu si tI eht fo retsiniM a…“ )c()11(5 .”snosirp“ fo noitinfied eht 1102 tcA ytilibisnopseR laicoS dna mrofeR eciloP tnaveler si ”gninaem“ gnisicrexe ni ,nworC seod“ nosirp a taht mrfinoc ot dednetni si hcihw gninaem eht ti si :ereh noitaler ni snoitcnuf ”.nosirp ecrof ria ro yratilim ,lavan a edulcni ton gnitimil – ”nosirp“ fo eht nihtiw( snosirp ot -non ot gninaem eht nosirP eht fo gninaem rednu snosirp yratilim ”…)2591 tcA 2591 AP eht fo )1(35s fo gninaem eht ro – ?”snoitcnuf“ laitnetop diova ot devorpmi eb dluohs gnidroW .detoN no tnemmoc eeS rehtehw gninimreted ni“ )01(6 .noisufnoc .)9(5 sesualc ,os od dluow erusolcsid a ”…tnuocca otni ekat .detcerroc eb dluohs rorre gnitfarD .detoN siht :tniop Show less