Beaumont Carol: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Beaumont Carol: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 04 October 2011. Volume:676;Page:21688. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to stand and speak on the Victims of Crime Reform Bill at this its first reading. Labour is supporting this bill as others will have said being referred to a select committee. 
The purpose of this bill is worth just outlining again because I think that it is always important at first reading debates to understand what we are dealing with. The objectives of the bill are to strengthen the existing general provisions in legislation for victims of crime to expand the rights of victims of serious offences to give victims more opportunity to be involved in criminal justice processes by ensuring they are better informed about their rights to increase the accountability and responsiveness of Government agencies providing services to victims and to ensure that victims’ rights in the adult criminal justice jurisdiction are applied in the youth justice jurisdiction. We will probably go through some of those in a little more detail but this is an omnibus bill and it amends four different Acts: the Victims’ Rights Act 2002 the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 the Parole Act 2002 and the Sentencing Act 2002. 
Certainly Labour agrees that victims need to have a greater role in the criminal justice process because there is a lack of a visible complaints process and oversight of victims’ rights. I think that in recent times the debate has come around to a recognition that our justice system should obviously serve the interests of us as a society in ensuring that the rules on which we all agree are in place and are enforced; that those who break those rules should face some consequences but that the processes around that should be fair and just; but also that those who have been hurt by crime if you like should be part of that equation. We certainly agree with that and with the need to look closely at it. It was under the Labour Government in 2007 that the Justice and Electoral Committee conducted an inquiry into victims’ rights which highlighted some of the issues that are finally being addressed in this bill so to that extent this bill is a logical next step. 
It is interesting to be speaking about this bill having spoken earlier today on the criminal procedure legislation because alongside all of these types of initiatives there are very important questions of balance and very important questions about ensuring that justice is in fact served. We have a system that is set up in a particular way. We need to make sure that in trying to look at one group we do not severely disadvantage or undermine those fundamental principles that we have in our justice system. 
The Law Society has expressed reservations about some of the initiatives presented by the Government particularly expanding the role of victims in the courtroom which might move the courts away from the dispassionate dispensing of justice. Certainly I think all members on the select committee—and I am assuming; I am sorry but I do not know whether the bill will come to the Justice and Electoral Committee. But whichever select committee it is I think all members will pay close attention to submissions to the select committee to ensure that both victims’ rights and the rights of the accused are balanced to achieve appropriate and fair outcomes. I think that that sense of balance is really important. 
Despite the Law Society’s reservations that I have just mentioned it does support moves in the legislation to give adult victims the right to read their statements in court. But on the question of subjecting children to further court processes that might not be a particularly positive advancement of children’s rights. That is a live question I think and certainly again at the select committee close attention will need to be paid to what is best for children in this whole process. 
The Ministry of Justice in the regulatory impact statement has identified three broad concerns facing victims of crime. First victims find it frustrating dealing with multiple Government agencies to get information about the criminal justice system their rights and services. It seems to me that that should be readily able to be fixed. To start to make that access to information much more streamlined and effective for those victims seems a very sensible suggestion. After all victims of crime especially victims of violent crimes—domestic violence sexual violence and the like—are already traumatised by those crimes and we need to make sure that the agencies they deal with make the process as smooth and as supportive as possible for them. That was one of the three broad concerns of the Ministry of Justice. 
The second concern is that the mechanisms for making criminal justice agencies accountable for the information they provide or the services they deliver to victims are very weak. There is that sense of getting greater accountability in ensuring that victims do get good service from those agencies. Again I make the point that many victims are already traumatised by the crime they have experienced and it seems to me to be a reasonable proposition that there should be some accountability—that agencies dealing with victims do so in a manner that does not further victimise those victims or does not make the trauma they are already dealing with worse. 
The third concern that the ministry identified in the regulatory impact statement is that many victims find the current criminal justice processes bewildering and they feel that they do not have any role in a criminal case involving them. Again if people have been traumatised or really undermined by crimes that have been committed against them they do not want a court process that just reinforces that—a process that further makes them feel as though they are being undermined and that their confidence and self-esteem is being lessened. I can see that those three broad concerns are certainly relevant. I know for a fact that many women who have been victims of violent crime often find those things to be so. Dealing with those areas seems to me to be very important. 
I will talk about the main provisions of the bill. First of all in respect of the amendments to the Victims’ Rights Act some of the provisions relate to the definition of “victim” and there are questions around the duty to inform victims. These questions are about the agencies that provide information. Information about proceedings must be given to victims. I think this is a really good point. This makes sure that in dealing with the criminal justice system a victim of crime is clear about what will be happening what their role in it will be what they will be expected to do—all of those sorts of things—so that they know what will happen in advance. The bill also goes on to look at information in victim impact statements. It provides that information ascertained from a victim in a victim impact statement may include photographs drawings or other visual representations which is pretty important. 
Part 1 talks about a code for victims. It will require the preparation of a code for victims for the purpose of providing information about their statutory rights services available to them and duties and responsibilities of Government agencies. In preparing that code the secretary preparing it must undertake consultation. The code must be then approved and signed by the Minister of Justice before it takes effect. The Secretary for Justice must publish the notice of the Minister’s approval of the code in the  
Gazette 
. That sounds like a very sensible suggestion. That is in terms of changes to the Victims’ Rights Act. 
There are also changes to the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989. This bill redefines the term “victim” in that Act to align it with the definition in the Victims’ Rights Act. It also requires a prosecutor to make reasonable efforts to ascertain and convey to the Youth Court the views of victims of specified offences before an order is made releasing or detaining a child or young person in custody. There are also changes to that Act to the custody of a child or young person pending hearing. Those are the areas that are covered in that particular Act. 
The changes to the Parole Act are to section 4 again to update the definition of “victim” and to section 44 in terms of what information may be available to victims. So these amendments are about aligning those Acts. In respect of the Sentencing Act 2002 and restorative justice the bill requires the District Court in certain cases to adjourn proceedings at any time before sentencing to enable inquiries to be made to determine whether a restorative justice process is appropriate in the circumstances. So those are the main changes to those Acts.