Consequences of crime to be tackled by Bill
Last week saw substantial steps forward in the reform of the justice and coroners systems.
For many years I have advocated changing the coroners service to make it easier to navigate and more responsive to people who have suffered a bereavement.
The current system is outdated, inflexible and fragmented – one example is how the coroners process can be held up unnecessarily by the rigid adherence to boundaries and jurisdictions when a body needs to be moved.
This is one of the reasons why I am very glad to see the Coroners and Justice Bill in front of parliament.
The Bill should, among other things, deal with the aforementioned boundaries issue, increase rights for victims, increase protection for witnesses and offer increased support for bereaved families, including the families of servicemen and women.
It will see the introduction of a scheme to prevent criminals from profiting from stories of their crimes and creates the office of the chief coroner, who will put national standards in place, and monitor compliance with them; it will ensure that coroners deliver a charter of services to benefit bereaved families.
One other very welcome step last week was the appointment of Sara Payne MBE as the Victims Champion. After the murder of her daughter Sarah, Sara Payne started a campaign to change the way in which sex offenders are dealt with and looked after in the community. She worked closely with the Home Office on increasing the right of public access to information about known sex offenders and was also instrumental in establishing the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) which ensures that a risk management plan is drawn up for the most serious offenders.
Given an MBE in the New Year's Honours, Ms Payne's appointment will last for a year while the aforementioned Bill goes through parliament. The Bill aims to introduce a permanent Victim's Commissioner – this post would provide a voice for victims of crime until that time.
Some of the responsibilities of the Victims Champion will be to listen to the views and concerns of victims and witnesses, to work with Victim Support and learn from their experiences of dealing with 1.5 million victims and witnesses every year and to present the views and opinions of victims and witnesses to ministers and the government.
I hope that these changes can be made to the justice and coroners system to provide a much more transparent, responsive and easier system for people to deal with.
Victims should be placed at the centre of the justice process and this is a step to making sure they are and will be in future.
If you would like to get in touch with me about anything in this column, please e-mail JTrickett@jontrickett.org.uk or call my office on 01977 722290.
You can also visit my website at www.jontrickett.org.uk
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Weather for Wakefield
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
