Details of the new criminal justice Bill

The Bill will put the principles of the Victims’ Code on a statutory footing

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has today announced a new Victims and Prisoners Bill which aims to “cement victims’ voices at the heart of the justice system” and introduce stricter rules for releasing prisoners on parole.

Victims measures

The Bill will put the principles of the Victims’ Code on a statutory footing meaning that where appropriate victims will have a right to:

• Challenge decisions which directly impact them, for example getting the CPS or police to review why their case has been dropped in the most serious cases like rape and domestic abuse
• Receive information to help them understand the criminal justice process, such as on claiming compensation, how their case is progressing and its outcome
• Access vital support services such as Independent Sexual Violence and Independent Domestic Abuse Advisors
• Have the opportunity to make their views heard, for example being able to ask to read out their Victim Personal Statements in court

The Bill will also introduce a measure to ensure that children born as a result of rape will also be explicitly designated as victims in their own right making clear that they are entitled to access support services and information on their case.

The Bill also includes measures to try to address the current situation where many of these services, which are supposed to be available to all victims, are simply not delivered to large numbers of victims. The Bill proposes  giving ministers the power to get the criminal justice inspectorates to jointly inspect prisons, police forces, courts the CPS and probation to drive improvements in how they support victims. The Bill also proposes a process for a more straightforward complaints process which removes the current (ridiculous) requirement for them to go through their local MP before speaking to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

While the government says the Bill represents its desire to put victims at the heart of the justice system, critics question that commitment, asking why the last, widely respected, Victims’ Commissioner Dame Vera Baird was removed from office with no successor yet in post more than six months later.

Parole changes

The government’s overhaul of the parole system comes in the wake of high-profile parole decisions in cases like John Worboys and Colin Pitchfork which the Justice Secretary says  have shaken public confidence in the system. The bill includes measures to ensure dangerous offenders will find it much more difficult to be given parole:

• Enshrining a new release test for the Parole Board into law, making public safety the sole criteria when making release decisions
• Creating a new tier of the most serious offenders including murderers, rapists and terrorists and giving the Justice Secretary the power to veto the release of those offenders in the interest of public safety. It will also be available in cases where the Parole Board cannot confidently decide the release test has been met.
• Making it a legal requirement for ex-police officers and detectives to sit on parole panels for these ‘top-tier’ cases. Their first-hand experience of managing serious offenders and the risk they pose will help place an even greater focus on public protection in parole hearings.

The Bill will also put forward new legislation to prevent prisoners serving whole-life orders from marrying or forming a civil partnership in prison.

It is not a surprise that the government has amended its Victims’ Bill which has been a long-standing commitment to include these new provisions for the parole system, especially since the High Court ruled on 15 March this year that there was no legal basis for a range of secondary legislation and guidance that the Justice Secretary had introduced into the parole process. That judgement confirmed that the Parole Board has a judicial and, therefore, scrupulously independent function so it will be interested to see if the House of Commons is happy to see the transfer of powers from the Board to the Secretary of State set out in this new Bill.