Stakeholder workshop: Amplifying victims' voices

In January 2023, Justice Lab brought together organisations from across the sector to discuss the challenges of collecting, using and sharing victims’ data. This note summarises key issues and makes recommendations to ensure victims’ interests and needs are prioritised effectively in future legislation. 

The government’s Victims and Prisoners Bill was introduced to parliament in March 2023, with provisions intended to improve the collection and use of data about victims’ experience. In preparation, Justice Lab convened organisations from across the sector including specialists in the experiences of children, older people, and women, to discuss the challenges of data collection, sharing and governance and make recommendations for improving the use of victims’ data across the criminal justice system. 

Key findings included:

• The existence identification of  critical  gaps in the data that is collected and available about victims  and their experience of the Criminal Justice System
• The absence of comprehensive data standards as a critical barrier to improving the information that is held about victims and their experience of the CJS
• Strong agreement that the current approach to collecting and linking data made it harder to police patterns of  behaviour, with disastrous consequences for victims
• Glaring errors in recording data, such as mis-spelling names, which undermines effective matching and sharing of data across agencies 

Organisations represented in the expert workshop included Age UK; Barnardo’s; Child Sexual Abuse Centre; City University; Equally Ours; Just for Kids Law; Safe Lives; Suzy Lamplugh Trust; The Children’s Society; Victim Support; The Challenging Behaviour Foundation. 

We are thankful to everyone who attended the workshop, and subsequently commented on this note for sharing their expertise and insight.