criminal justice system of northern ireland - annual action plan 2011-12

8/6/2019 Criminal Justice System of Northern Ireland - Annual Action Plan 2011-12

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Victim and WitnessAnnual Action Plan

2011-12


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Ministerial Foreword

Since my appointment as Justice Minister last year, I am

happy to report that there have been a number of

positive developments to improve the experiences of

victims and witnesses of crime of the criminal justicesystem. In May 2010 I published two guides to the criminal justice

system, one for victims and witnesses of crime and the other for

bereaved families and friends following murder or manslaughter. I also

made improvements to the special measures provisions in the Justice

Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 to assist vulnerable and intimidated

witnesses give their best possible evidence in criminal proceedings.

And in March 2011 I published a Code of Practice for Victims of Crime

which sets out the minimum standard that victims can expect from thecriminal justice system.

However, I recognise that more needs to be done and the actions set

out in this latest Annual Action Plan will go some way to achieve that.

Steps will be taken to keep victims better informed about their case;

ways to ensure that all those who are eligible to be considered for

special measures assistance will be examined; and there is a

commitment to consult on victim impact statements to ensure that

victims have the most effective way of expressing the impact that thecrime had on them in court.

A new strategy will also be developed this year to succeed the current

Bridging the Gap strategy when it ends on 31 March 2012. I would

encourage everyone to contribute to its development either during the

public consultation later this year or by sending your views to:

Delivery Improvement Unit Tel: 028 9052 7259

Department of Justice Text phone: 028 9052 7668Massey House E-mail: [email protected]

Stormont Estate Fax: 028 9052 7507

Belfast

BT4 3SX

Finally, I again welcome the interest of the Justice Committee in this

important area of work and commit to working constructively with them

on taking this programme of work forward.

David Ford


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Introduction

This is the last Annual Action Plan (the Plan) associated with the

delivery of Bridging the Gap, the five-year strategy, which was launched

in 2007, to improve criminal justice services to victims and witnesses

of crime in Northern Ireland.

Aim

The Plans overarching aim is to improve services to victims and

witnesses and to increase overall satisfaction levels with those services.

Structure

The Plan aims to more effectively meet the needs of victims andwitnesses through the development of enhanced services in five key

areas: improving access to information; keeping victims and witnesses

informed; providing a quality service; supporting individual needs; and

listening to victims and witnesses.

Delivery

The Plan will be delivered by the Victim and Witness Steering Group(VWSG), which includes representatives from the Department of

Justice, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Public Prosecution

Service, the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service, the Northern

Ireland Prison Service, the Probation Service for Northern Ireland and

the Youth Justice Agency. It also includes the voluntary organisations

Victim Support Northern Ireland and the NSPCC.

The responsibility for each area of work included in the Plan has beenallocated to the organisations represented on the VWSG. They will take

the lead and work with other organisations as necessary.

The VWSG will meet bi-monthly to review progress against each of the

actions and will report to the Minister through the Criminal Justice

Board.


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Conclusion

The VWSG is committed to enhancing the criminal justice systems

responsiveness to the needs of victims and witnesses of crime. It

seeks to do this by improving the quality of services in a coordinated

manner, which both improves victims and witnesses experience of

engagement with the criminal justice system and delivers betteroutcomes for victims and witnesses and for the justice process.

This Plan, which is the final plan of the current strategy, represents a

substantial programme of work to further improve services for victims

and witnesses by driving up performance across the criminal justice

system.


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AnnualActi

on

Plan

2011-12

KeyArea

1.

Impro

ving

acces

sto

inform

ation

2.

Keeping

victim

sand

witnesses

inform

ed

Action

1.

Toexplore

newandavailabletechnologiestoprovide

enhanced

victiminformationbyMa

rch2012.

2.

Tofinalise

therevisionofthePPSV

ictimsandWitnesses

PolicybyD

ecember2011.

3.

ToreviewNICTSCustomerStandardsandothersourcesof

informationforvictimsbyDecembe

r2011.

1.

Tocomple

tetherolloutofthePSN

Iautomatedsystemo

f

victimupd

atesasexpeditiouslyaspossible.

2.

Toconside

rthefindingsfromt

here

viewofthemanagement

ofandsup

portforvictimsandwitnesseswhoarecalledto

theCrown

Courttogiveevidence,andagreetheway

forwardan

dproduceanactionplan

byDecember2011.

3.

Tofinalise

therevisionofPPSvictim

andwitness

correspondence,consultwithkeys

takeholdersand

implementrecommendationsbyOctober2011.

4.

Toassess

thefeasibilityofmerging

thePrisonerRelease,

Probation

andMentallyDisordered

Offendersvictim

informationschemesbyMarch2012.

5.

Todevelop

amodelforWitnessCareUnitsandagreeway

forwardby

31March2012.

Lead

Organisation

DOJ

PPS

NICTS

PSNI

PPS

PPS

PBNI

DOJ

Supporting

Organisations

Victimand

W

itnessSteering

Group(VWSG)

PSNI/NICTS/VSNI/

NSPCC

VSNI/NSPCC

DOJ/PSNI/NIPS

PSNI/PPS/NICTS/

VSNI/NSPCC


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AnnualActi

on

Plan

2011-12

KeyArea

3.

Provid

inga

qualit

y

servic

e

Action

1.

Topublishanewstrategytoensuretheongoingstrategic

deliveryo

fimprovedservicestovictimsandwitnessesby

March2012.

2.

Tomonitortheimplementationof

theCodeofPracticefor

Victimso

fCrime,placeitonasta

tutoryfootingand

commencea12-monthreviewof

itscontentinMarch

2012.

3.

Tomonitorfeedbackandcomplaintsregardingthe

standardssetoutintheCodeofP

racticeforVictimsof

Crimeon

aquarterlybasisandto

considerhowtoaddress

themese

mergingonservicedelivery.

4.

Toreview

feedbackfromt

hePolicingCommitmentsandthe

PSNIUse

rSatisfactionSurveyduringthecourseoftheyea

r

andcons

iderhowtoaddressany

emergingvictimsthemes

.

5.

Tocontin

uetoraiseawarenesswiththejudiciaryand

defencecounselofthedamaging

impactofinappropriate

cross-exa

mination.

Lead

Organisation

DOJ

DOJ

DOJ

PSNI

DOJ

Supporting

Organisations

VWSG

VWSG

VWSG

VWSG


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AnnualActi

on

Plan

2011-12

KeyArea

Action

6.

Toconsid

ertherecommendations

intheCriminalJustice

Inspectio

nreportfollowingitsThematicInspectionon

ImprovingtheProvisionofCarefo

rVictimsandWitnesses

withintheCriminalJusticeSystem

inNorthernIrelandand

produce

anactionplantoaccompanythereports

publication.

7.

Toconsid

ertherecommendations

intheQUB/NSPCC

reportfollowingtheirresearchon

theexperiencesofyoung

witnessesincriminalproceedings

inNorthernIrelandand

agreethewayforwardwithinthreemonthsofthereports

publication.

8.

Tocontributetothedevelopment

ofEUDirectivesrelating

tovictimsduringthecourseofthe

yearandplanfortheir

implementation.

9.

Toreview

andrevisePPSstandard

instructionstoCounsel

byNovem

ber2011toensurevict

imsandwitnessesneeds

areaddressed.

10.Toprovid

etrainingontheavoidan

ceofre-victimisationto

relevantPPSbusinessareasandPanelCounselby

February

2012.

Lead

Organisation

DOJ

DOJ

DOJ

PPS

PPS

Supporting

Organisations

VWSG

VWSG

EUVictims

Directivessub-

group/VSNI

VSNI


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AnnualActi

on

Plan

2011-12

KeyArea

4.

Supporting

individual

needs

Action

1.

Topreparefor,commenceandim

plementthevulnerable

andintim

idatedwitnessprovisionsintheJusticeAct

(NorthernIreland)2011byDecem

ber2011.

2.

Toaddressthepracticalissuesidentifiedduringthereview

oftheop

erationofspecialmeasu

resbyMarch2012.

3.

TohaveanimplementationplaninplacebySeptember

2011for

theprovisionofanIntermediariesServicetohelp

vulnerablewitnesses.

4.

Toreview

theAchievingBestEvide

ncepractitioner

guidance

byDecember2011.

5.

Toevalua

tethepilottoreducewa

itingtimesforvictims

andwitnesseswhileatcourtbyM

arch2012.

6.

Toconsid

erthewayforwardforth

eprovisionofremotelink

facilities

byDecember2011.

7.

Toconsid

ertheneedforfurtheractionstoaddressthe

principalv

ictimandwitnessconce

rnsaboutcourt

attendan

cebyMarch2012.

Lead

Organisation

DOJ

DOJ

DOJ

DOJ

NICTS

NICTS

NICTS

Supporting

Organisations

Vulnerableand

In

timidated

W

itnessWorking

Group(VIWWG)

VIWWG

VIWWG

VIWWG

PPS/VSNI/NSPCC

DOJ/PSNI/PPS/

NICTS/VSNI/NSPCC

PSNI/PPS/VSNI/

NSPCC


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