Press Story

Victims of crime should be able to track the progress of police investigation and prosecution in the same way they check their bank balance or follow the delivery of a parcel, according to a new report published by the think tank IPPR today.

The report argues that every police force in the UK should offer a similar system to the 'TrackMyCrime' tool, pioneered by Avon and Somerset Police, which allows victims of crime to access the current status of their crime on-line. It also provides direct contact to the officer leading the investigation. An evaluation of the scheme found that:

95 per cent of victims were satisfied with how they were treated
93 per cent of victims felt their questions were answered adequately
89 per cent of surveyed victim users felt that the information they needed was provided quickly
77 per cent of victims were satisfied with the follow up service provided

The report recommends that such a tool should go further than the Avon and Somerset Police system and include court and probation data as well.

The report finds that providing victims with relevant data is crucial to improving their confidence in the criminal justice system. It includes survey data from Victim Support, showing that:

Nearly half of the victims surveyed (46 per cent) did not feel that the criminal justice system treats victims fairly.
Most victims (58 per cent) who reported incidents to police were not given any updates on case progression.
When asked to identify what improvements should be made to the system, the most important to victims was greater clarity over sentencing (with 48 per cent highlighting this).
Effective communication had a direct impact on confidence in the system. Victims who were updated less than monthly or not at all are less likely than victims who were kept regularly updated to agree and more likely to disagree that the criminal justice treatment treats victims fairly.

Rick Muir, IPPR Associate Director, said:

"Crime maps and online information about police force funding are important accountability tools but victims want information relevant to their own case to be made easily available to them. Victims deserve to be kept informed throughout the whole justice process, from the reporting of a crime to sentencing by the courts or reasons why cases did not result in successful prosecutions. If banks and delivery companies can keep customers informed online, the police and criminal justice system should be able to keep victims updated too."

The report also recommends:

Crime maps should be made interactive and display real time information to change them from being purely a transparency and accountability tool to one that could help prevent and reduce crime.

The courts should become more accessible and transparent by publishing details online of the cases they are dealing with, including judgements reached and a transcript of the case.

Notes to Editors

IPPR's new report - Open Justice: empowering victims through data and technology- is available in advance on request from the IPPR press office and will be available to download from:http://bit.ly/IPPR9191

Contacts:

Tim Finch: 07595 920 899 / t.finch@ippr.org

Tamsin Crimmens, 07800 742 262 / t.crimmens@ippr.org