Victims of crime are more concerned about police action than the alleged criminal being prosecuted in court, research from Transform Justice has revealed. 

The organisation, which seeks to create a fairer and more open justice system, conducted a poll of 1,235 victims and ‘in-depth’ interviews with 25 victims whose cases were resolved out of court.

Those whose cases were resolved without going to court were more likely to say the justice system was supportive, just, 'easy' and 'healing' than those whose crimes went to court or were unresolved, the report said.

Asked what their priorities were after experiencing a crime, 86% wanted the person who did the crime not to do it to anyone else, while 70% wanted the crime resolved quickly. Only 27% wanted their day in court, the lowest priority for victims.

The report said ‘some’ victims did not see the justice system as an effective route to addressing or preventing further crimes.

It added: ‘Victims in our survey were overall supportive of these options [out of court resolutions]. They felt that too much court time is wasted on minor offences, for which court should be the last resort, and that many crimes can in fact be resolved by the police instead.’

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More than half (53%) supported policies to resolve more crimes without going to court, while 64% thought many crimes could be resolved by the police without the need for the courts’ involvement.

The report added: ‘Particularly for cases like shoplifting motivated by drug addiction, victims saw a conditional caution with referral to a drug rehabilitation programme as a better use of justice system resources, and a better way of stopping the person doing it again, than a court fine.’

Of the 494 victims included in the survey who reported their crime to the police, 25% had their case resolved without going to court, 22% had their case go to court and 42% said their case was unresolved. Those that did have their crime resolved out of court said the best thing about that was avoiding the stress of going to court (62%).

‘Victims liked that out-of-court resolutions gave them a say in how the issue should be dealt with. They appreciated being listened to by the police and being asked what they wanted to happen,’ the report said.

Transform Justice made six recommendations,  including that the CPS should encourage consideration of out-of-court resolutions by producing guidance for prosecutors on how to identify and divert appropriate cases from the magistrates’ court back to the police. It also recommended that the Home Office and Ministry of Justice ‘significantly’ improve data on reoffending and out-of-court resolutions and that the government publish an out-of-court resolutions strategy.

 

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