Labour unveils proposals for a Victim's Law

A taskforce led by the former director of public prosecutions (DPP) Sir Keir Starmer QC makes 14 recommendations to 'transform the criminal justice system into a criminal justice service'.

Under proposals for a Victim's Law, published today, judges will be required to control the treatment of vulnerable witnesses in court and police required to record crimes.

The report by Labour's Victim's Taskforce included, among its 14 recommendations, proposals to enable crimes to be reported at places other than a police and statutory duty on those working with children to report suspected abuse, or face the threat of criminal sanction.

It also recommends that the existing Victim's Code be made legally enforceable and backed by an enforcement body.

For the police, it suggests every force area should have an annual Area Victims' Plan to provide quality assured victims services, 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 Labour leader Ed Miliband and shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan. It includes the former DPP Sir Keir Starmer QC, who is a Labour parliamentary candidate for Holborn and St Pancras, Labour peer Doreen Lawrence, and Peter Neyroud, former chief constable of Thames Valley Police and a criminologist at Cambridge University.

The recommendations will form the basis of a Victim's Law to be introduced in the next parliament if Labour is elected.

Commenting, Miliband 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."

Khan 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."

Starmer 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 needs to be a cultural shift in the way victims are dealt with in our criminal justice system."

He added: "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."

Chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors' Association, Bill Waddington, said he welcomed measures to assist victims, but said cost-cutting measures cause suffering.

"Victims can't get a cup of coffee in the crown court because the cafes have been closed and they have to wait hours at court because trials have been over-listed to meet a tick-box exercise."

Waddington added: "One thing that is often forgotten is that defendants can be victims too, for example, when their names are exposed in the press for weeks before they are acquitted because they are not guilty."