The victim’s voice
The safety of victims and the avoidance of re-victimisation are central to the work of public protection.
The Probation Victim Contact Scheme has a duty under the Victims Charter to contact the victims of all offenders sentenced to 12 months or longer in custody or detained in hospital for sexual or violent offences in their Area.
In North Yorkshire and the City of York Probation employ Victim Liaison Officers (VLO) to work exclusively with victims. Probation also works in partnership with Victim Support who can offer victims of serious crime support and counselling.
The VLO contacts victims of crime within eight weeks of the offender being sentenced and many are surprised and pleased to know that they DO have the right to certain information. Some want the VLO to keep in touch with them, some for a variety of reason choose to have no contact and no information and others want to make a decision of contact with the VLO at a later stage. Of those victims who do choose to have contact, many are anxious to know more about the custodial process the offender will be subject to and when the offender is likely to be released.
Information the VLO can provide includes:
- Information about the criminal justice process and the way prisons and secure hospitals operate.
- What the offender’s sentence means and how decisions are made about how long the offender stays in prison or hospital.
- Key developments during the offenders sentence, for example, if the offender is being considered for a move to a different category of prison.
- Information about other services you may find useful in your local area.
The victim also has the right to put forward views about the conditions that could be placed on the offender when he/she is released. Conditions may include preventing the offender from going anywhere near the victim and if the risk is seen as too great, placing an exclusion zone on the offender to stop them causing any further worry to the victim.
The victim’s involvement with this service is voluntary, and victims may change their mind about having contact with a VLO at any point during the offender’s sentence.
The government has set a target of 90% of victims being contacted by Probation within 56 days of the offender’s sentence date. In North Yorkshire and the City of York that target is exceeded every year and last year (2007/8) 99.1% of victims were contacted within the target time.
Other services for victims include:
- Witness Care Unit;
- Victim Support, North Yorkshire;
- Youth Offending Teams have specialist officers who provide support and information to victims and the family of victims; and
- Police family liaison officers who are involved with victims and families at the investigation/conviction stages of serious crimes.
What if the offender is a MAPPA offender?
If a MAPPA offender is assessed as presenting a high risk of harm to others a Multi Agency Public Protection meeting is convened 6/9 months prior to the offenders release. Police, Probation, VLOs and other agencies attend these meetings. The focus is very much on victim safety and a plan to ensure the victim feels safe in their own home is put into action.
How to contact Victim Liaison Officers
If you have been a victim of sexual and/or violent offending where the offender was sentenced to 12 months or longer and would like more information, please contact your local probation office and ask to speak to a Victim Liaison Officer.