Your Rights
If you’ve been a victim of crime you have the right to receive a certain level of service from the criminal justice system.
Your rights as a victim of crime are explained in the Code of Practice for Victims and Witnesses.
This Code sets out the services of Victim or Witness of crime or their families should expect from the organisations within the Criminal Justice System
A bereaved family member, family member or representative (in certain circumstances), and a parent on behalf of or instead of a child are also covered.
The introduction of the Victim Code enhanced the rights of victims of crime and outlined how they should be treated by the Criminal Justice system. Not all these rights however are currently being upheld and the lack of awareness of these rights amongst victims and criminal justice agencies remains a problem. However, we are working with other agencies to provide training and awareness to hopefully help improve this, so that we all better support victims and witnesses.