Recommendation 11

We recommend that clause 2 includes an additional subsection following subsection 1 which places an obligation on the relevant statutory services, including but not limited to the police, to make victims aware of the Victims Code. We further recommend that the principles currently set out in subsection 2 should be rephrased to set out what victims must have rather than should have—as provided for in the original consultation document. We suggest the following: i) criminal justice agencies must provide victims with the information they need throughout the entirety of their case, from reporting through to post- conviction in a language or format that they can understand; this should include information on restorative justice where appropriate; Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Victims Bill 53 ii) victims must be able to access services which support them (including, where appropriate, specialist services); iii) victims must have the opportunity to have their voices heard in the criminal justice process; iv) victims must be able to challenge decisions that directly impact them.