Treatment of victims in trials
I was so pleased to see a group like you being set up on twitter.
Something I've become deeply concerned about in the past few months is the treatment of victims during legal trials - such as Frances Andrade and the case being reported today in the Times where the victim was forced to read out details of a former assault and then asked to 'repent of her sins.'
Trouble is, I have no idea what to constructively do with my anger and haven't been able to find an organisation or a campaign which is targeting this issue. If this is something you are interested in or know of some way I could help, I'd love to hear from you and will be following your new project with interest. Best of luck!
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Many thanks for your message Lyndsey – we share your concerns about trials. In the recent Oxford Gang case, one of the victims was cross examined by 21 different barristers, all calling her a liar.
We are concerned that guidelines around children giving evidence in court are not universally implemented and we are looking for a lawyer to write a post about this. Watch this space!
We are pushing for a victims rights bill which would look to ensure victims are better represented , protected and supported during the trial process. The rights of a child victim is also being looked at as some young children are left for hours waiting to give evidence . Sadly victims are being re-victimised by the CJ agencies due to lack of rights. This is a key area that needs addressing urgently. For more information on the victims bill campaign please visit our website http://www.voice4victims.co.uk. We need more victims to share their experience to help support our campaign .