The Victims’ Commissioner submitted her response to the call for evidence on 21 March 2024.
The Independent Pornography Review involves a comprehensive assessment of the legislation, regulation and enforcement of online and offline pornographic content, and is being overseen by Independent Lead Reviewer Baroness Gabby Bertin.
The review aims to take an evidence-based approach to develop a range of recommendations on how to best to achieve the review’s objectives:
- understand the prevalence and harmful impact of illegal pornography online, and the impact on viewers of other forms of legal pornography, including emerging themes like AI-generated pornography, and the impact on viewer’s attitudes to violence against women and girls;
- assess the public’s awareness and understanding of existing regulation and legislation of pornography;
- consider the current rules in place to regulate the pornography industry, comparing online and offline laws;
- determine if law enforcers and the justice system are responding to illegal pornography sufficiently, and if change is needed;
- find out how prevalent human trafficking and exploitation is in the industry, before recommending how to identify and tackle this;
- use this knowledge to set out what more can be done to provide those who need it with guidance on the potential harmful impact of pornography.
Further information:
For many victims, the journey to justice will be the first time they have interacted with the criminal justice system, and they will need support and advice to navigate it. Victim advocates are dedicated professionals who provide support, assistance, and advocacy to a wide range of victims. This is to ensure that victims’ rights and needs are met, and that they receive appropriate support and resources. Advocates play an important role in empowering victims to navigate complex statutory procedures within the criminal justice system.
This report aims to:
- Map the current provision of victim advocates in England and Wales;
- Identify examples of where victim advocacy is working well and the benefits it provides to victims; and
- Identify gaps in victim advocacy provision and steps that can be taken to improve standards and consistency.
The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Baroness Newlove, said:
“One of the key findings of this research is that advocates can keep victims engaged with the criminal justice process. This is so important at a time when rates of victim withdrawal are at a near all-time high and there are high numbers of cases waiting to get to court. Long waiting times, poor communication, and a lack of support often result in victims not wanting to proceed with their case. Advocates can support victim engagement by providing them with essential practical advice and emotional support at a time where they are attempting to negotiate the justice system and recover from a traumatic experience.”
The Ministry of Justice sought evidence on Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs) to be considered in conjunction with other ongoing work relating to LCJBs, when informing the future policy on the local criminal justice system.
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As regulator of the new Online Safety Act, Ofcom launched this consultation to establish new regulations that might be required. It focuses on Ofcom’s proposals for how internet services that enable the sharing of user-generated content (‘user-to-user services’) and search services should approach their new duties relating to illegal content.
It covers:
- the causes and impacts of illegal harms;
- how services should assess and mitigate the risks of illegal harms;
- how services can identify illegal content; and
- Ofcom’s approach to enforcement.
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The purpose of the Victims’ Commissioner’s Advisory Group is to advise the Victims’ Commissioner how best to fulfil her statutory obligations and what policies and practices she should be advocating when fulfilling her statutory obligations.
The Victims’ Commissioner outlines her proposed amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill. These are organised according to the Commissioner’s priorities for the Bill: accountability (pages 4-7), accessibility (pages 7-8) and inclusivity (pages 8-9).
These are amendments that the Victims’ Commissioner believes are necessary to ensure the Bill deliver for victims.
Accountability
Ensuring criminal justice agencies are held to account.
- Baseline compliance standards – Minimum threshold compliance levels for each right under the Victims’ Code, complemented by independent inspections in cases of breaches by the respective criminal justice agencies. (See amendment D)
- An independent compliance report – A statutory duty upon the Victims’ Commissioner to compile and publish an annual independent report on Code compliance, drawing from data collected by Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). (See amendment G)
- Enhanced powers for the Commissioner – Strengthened Victims’ Commissioner powers, including a right to be consulted on changes to the Code and related guidance, and a statutory duty for agencies listed under the Code to co-operate with the Commissioner. (See amendments: A, B, C, E, F, H, I, J)
An in-depth briefing detailing proposed amendments to enhance monitoring of Code compliance can be found online.
Accessibility
Providing vulnerable victims with the specialist support and rights they need.
- An accessible Code – A statutory duty upon the Secretary of State to ensure the Code is accessible to victims who are deaf, disabled, visually impaired or who do not speak English as a first language. (See amendment K)
- Enhanced protections for third-party materials – More robust safeguards for victims to limit requests for personal records from third parties to what is strictly necessary and proportionate in pursuit of a reasonable line of inquiry, mirroring protections for digital materials (i.e., data held on phones). (See amendment M)
An in-depth briefing detailing proposed amendments to the Bill, and specifically aimed at improving the criminal justice system for victims of rape and sexual assault, is available online.
Inclusivity
Extending support to those victims seriously impacted by crime who are currently or partially excluded.
- ASB victims to be given access to support services – Victims of persistent and targeted anti-social behaviour should be recognised as victims within the Bill, with access to support services as provided to other victims. Those victims who qualify for the ASB Case Review should be listed within the definition of a victim. (See amendment M) An in-depth briefing can be found online.
- Parity of treatment for victims of mentally disordered offenders – Provide victims of mentally disordered offenders with the right to submit a Victim Personal Statement, and the right to make representations to the Mental Health Tribunal in person. (See amendments: O, P, Q) An in-depth briefing can be found online.
- Recognition for bereaved victims of murder abroad – Bereaved victims of murder abroad must be recognised under the Victims’ Code. (See amendment L)
- Children of victims of modern slavery must be recognised as victims of crime – Many of these children will have witnessed appalling abuse and will have been traumatised as a result. (See amendment N)
For more information on these amendments, please email victims.commissioner@victimscommissioner.org.uk.
Clauses 24-26 of the Victims and Prisoners Bill will amend the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act to include a regime for making victim information requests in respect of information about them held by third parties (known as third-party material/TPM). However, as drafted, these clauses lack the protections for victims that apply to requests for digital data within the PCSC Act, such as the provision that refusing to co-operate with requests will not automatically end investigations.
This clause should be amended so that the wording mirrors that of the clauses dealing with digital material in the PCSC Act, providing consistency and parity between the frameworks for digital data requests and victim information requests, and granting victims who are subject to these requests the same additional safeguards that are in place for digital data requests.
The Victims’ and Prisoners Bill misses an opportunity to strengthen victims’ ability to receive their Victims’ Code rights.
The following amendments to the Bill would make the necessary changes required to ensure that criminal justice agencies, tasked with upholding the rights of the Victims’ Code, can be held accountable effectively:
- As the Victims’ Commissioner has a statutory responsibility for monitoring compliance with the code, he/she should be responsible for compiling and publishing an annual assessment of Code compliance.
- The Bill should name the Victims’ Commissioner as a statutory consultee on any amendments to the Victims’ Code and any statutory regulations relating to the Code.
- The Bill should include a statutory requirement for the Secretary of State to impose national thresholds for minimum compliance with the Code.
- The PHSO should be required to share their findings, from victims’ complaints with the Victims’ Commissioner.
- The twelve ‘rights’ on the Victims’ Code should be enshrined on the face of the Bill.
- The Bill should include an explicit commitment to make the Code accessible to victims with disability or where English is not their first language.
For further information on any of the proposed amendments, please email victims.commissioner@victimscommissioner.org.uk.
The Victims and Prisoners Bill seeks to strengthen the principles of the Victims’ Code by placing them in legislation, including the principle that victims should have the opportunity to make their views heard in the criminal justice process. However, this principle does not apply equally to victims of mentally disordered offenders (MDOs) when compared to victims of offenders in prison. The Bill presents a valuable opportunity to ensure that these two groups of victims are afforded the same rights and entitlements.
The following amendments to the Bill would make the necessary changes required that would grant parity of rights to victims of mentally disordered offenders.
- Victims of mentally disordered offenders who appear before the Mental Health Tribunal should be able to make a Victim Personal Statement and should be able to meet the Tribunal to present the VPS in person. This would grant victims of mentally disordered offenders the same rights at this stage of their criminal justice journey as is granted to victims of offenders in prison.
- The principle that victims should be given information about the criminal justice process should be extended to explicitly include the NHS, in order to bring mental health tribunal decisions in line with the rest of the criminal justice system.
- The NHS should be included within the remit of the Victims’ Code, to ensure that victims of mentally disordered offenders are provided with information about their offender – including a summary of reasons for the decision taken by the Mental Health Tribunal.
For further information on any of the proposed amendments, please email victims.commissioner@victimscommissioner.org.uk.
The Victims and Prisoners Bill misses an opportunity to extend the right to access support to victims of persistent anti-social behaviour in cases where the police choose not to take criminal action.
The Bill should be amended to include the following provision for victims of anti-social behaviour:
- Clause 1 which lists those who fall within the remit of the Victims’ Code should be amended to include victims of anti-social behaviour who meet the threshold of an ASB Case Review.
For further information on any of the proposed amendments, please email victims.commissioner@victimscommissioner.org.uk.
