Last year, around one-quarter of the population of England and Wales were victims of crime. For just under one-third of us, the impact of disorderly or antisocial behaviour reduces our quality of life. Yet many who experience these problems do not report them to anyone. Of those who do report crimes to the police, the majority will not see an offender brought to justice. And people who are on low incomes and who are lone parents are at greater risk of being repeat victims.
As part of the drive to increase the number of offenders brought to justice and improve public confidence in the criminal justice system (CJS), the Government has made a commitment to putting victims and witnesses at the heart of it. It has pledged to provide them with the support and services they need, whether within the CJS itself or through other agencies. In realising this commitment, the government recognises the need for greater co-ordination between the agencies within the CJS and beyond.
However, to date, no comprehensive evaluation has taken place of the services currently provided to victims and witnesses of crime, disorderly or antisocial behaviour. T- address this, the Audit Commission has looked not only at current service provision to victims and witnesses, but also at what those on the receiving end of these services think about them.
Building on our previous approach published in Route to Justice, this work also takes a pathway approach, looking at what happens from when an incident occurs, through to the experiences of victims and witnesses at court and afterwards. It identifies six common themes around which improvements are needed along the whole pathway. These themes are as follows:
- Agencies must understand the demand for services from victims and witnesses in order to respond appropriately and effectively.
- There must be cultural change to recognise that meeting people's individual needs is key to improving victim and witness satisfaction.
- Clear accountability for performance and service quality is essential to drive improvement;
- Better use and communication of information is critical to keeping victims and witnesses engaged.
- Appropriate and timely support is critical to ensuring that victims and witnesses stay engaged.
- Agencies can achieve significant change by using local resources in a more co-ordinated way.