Victims’ Commissioner calls for new law for bereaved families

The Victims’ Commissioner has called for a new law which will put into statute rights for families bereaved by homicide.

The move follows a six-month review by Louise Casey into the treatment of families who have suffered the ultimate loss at the hands of criminals, but who often do not get the support, care or consideration they deserve.

Ms Casey’s report, which follows the largest-ever survey of bereaved families, calls for a law which will set out rights that the criminal justice system should afford families as well as the practical help and support they should receive.

Rights within the new Victims’ Law will include:

•a Criminal Practice Direction to ensure families are treated with dignity and respect during court proceedings;

•the right to information from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and to meet with the CPS lawyer at key stages of the legal process, including on convictions, acquittal or appeal;

•the right to sentencing remarks from judges in writing and trial transcripts at a minimal cost to families;

•the release of a body by the coroner back to a family for burial within 28 days unless exceptional circumstances apply; and

•that families will be provided with an integrated package of help and support following the death and up until any trial and beyond.

Ms Casey said: “I have met many families who have had loved ones murdered and they talk about how the legal process was almost as traumatic as the crime itself. This can’t be right. We ask people not to go out and take the law into their own hands. We ask that people come to court and give evidence so that nasty people can be locked up. In return, the criminal justice system needs to do better.

“Families deserve to bury the body of their child without defence lawyers asking for autopsy after autopsy. They deserve not to have to sit next to the defendant’s family in court listening to them laughing, or being intimidated by them. They deserve to be told that their husband`s killer is going to be released before they bump into him in a supermarket. They deserve to be treated with some humanity in the witness box.”

She added that bereaved families have few rights, no real route of complaint and are often given little information and sometimes treated as an inconvenience in the legal process.

“Now is the time for something concrete to be set out in law – promises are no longer good enough. The system must be levelled up so victims and bereaved families are no longer seen as bystanders or an inconvenience as the wheels of justice turn,” explained Ms Casey.

The support package will also include a dedicated homicide caseworker offering help and advice as well as access to trauma and bereavement counselling from approved providers and a national network of peer support groups.

Ms Casey has also called for a national protocol governing the police’s review of cases which remain unresolved including how regularly they are reviewed and mandatory communication with the families concerned.

In light of the report’s findings, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it will provide an additional £500,000 to help victims of homicide.

The extra money will be used to increase the number of professional caseworkers in the homicide service, to strengthen the role of befriending, and peer support services and to provide better training for those working with people bereaved by homicide.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said: “We can never make things right for families bereaved through crime and it would be foolish to pretend that any level of support could ever achieve this. But we can do more to ensure that families get the help they need and that the practical impacts of bereavement are minimised. That is why I am making an additional £500,000 available this year to increase the number of professional caseworkers in the Homicide Service and to provide better training for those working with people bereaved by homicide.”