Data • Administrative data • Completed
Victims Bill: Written Evidence from Justice Lab
| 10th June 2022
This is a response from Justice Lab to the Justice Select Committee’s call for evidence on the draft Victims Bill.
The Committee requested evidence regarding whether the Bill meets the government’s stated aim of delivering: “a cultural shift in victims’ experiences by putting their interests at the heart of the justice system”. Our response focusses primarily on the draft Bill’s proposals to place new duties on criminal justice agencies
to collect and share data.
We join other organisations in welcoming the emphasis given to data collection and sharing as a mechanism for improving the experience of victims. We believe that data has a vital role to play in improving performance across the justice system, as well as improving transparency and accountability.
However, we are concerned that the proposals contained within the draft Bill underestimate the issues with the data that is collected on the system at present, under-cost potential solutions and fail to include adequate provisions to ensure that the data collected and shared reflects the priorities of victims. As a consequence, we are concerned that the draft Bill will not deliver the government’s aim
