Nexus Response
Victim and Witness Strategy Consultation
Nexus Response
Victim and Witness Strategy Consultation
#BreakTheCycle
Nexus Response:
Victim and Witness Strategy Consultation
As a charity that supports people impacted by abusive relationships, we welcome the opportunity to provide our expertise on the proposed Victim and Witness Strategy 2025–2030. We know from our client forums and from research that victims and witnesses face many barriers in accessing justice and navigating the criminal justice system, and as such it is important that a Strategy is informed by the lived experience of people who have been impacted by the system.
Our comments, recommendations, and questions are based on our expertise and experience supporting people impacted by sexual abuse and abusive relationships, as well as feedback from our clients on their experiences when engaging with the criminal justice system.
In October 2024, the Department of Justice published a consultation exercise to gather views and opinions from the public, the community and voluntary sector, and other key stakeholders to inform the development of a new Victim and Witness Strategy. This included a call for views on priorities, work streams, and recommendations to help improve the experiences of victims and witnesses who engage in the criminal justice system.
We know from our professional experience in supporting victims of sexual assault, rape and sexual abuse the most authentic way to engage with and learn from the experiences of those who have been the victim of, or a witness to, a crime is to facilitate accessible and meaningful opportunities for participation and co-design in a trauma informed way. Nexus does this by supporting ‘RESET’ clients (who have completed their therapeutic journey and who are interested in being advocates for those with lived experience) to develop their advocacy skills through specialist training to build their confidence in advocating through our user forum focus groups.
We engaged with our RESET clients to gather their thoughts on the Victim and Witness Strategy. For example, regarding delays in the criminal justice process, one client told us “After reporting my own abuse to the PSNI, no qualified officer was available to interview me for 3 weeks. 3 weeks to crawl back under my rock and bury what I lived with for 40 odd years. Time to think about the impact it would have had on everyone around me. I give up and left it.” All client responses can be found in the full consultation document.
The consultation asked respondents to provide comment on the victim journey, which encompasses every step that a victim may or may not go through, including accessing support services or emergency safety response, to filing a report, providing statements to the police, navigating various agencies, providing evidence, going to court, taking the stand and being cross-examined, waiting for the verdict, access support and counselling. In our response we asserted that the Victims and Witness Strategy is going to be effective and achieve its mission statement, then it must consider every step of the victim and witness journey.
You can view the full response by clicking here or on the image above. If you have any questions or comments about this consultation response, please contact communications@nexusni.org.
As a charity that supports people impacted by abusive relationships, we welcome the opportunity to provide our expertise on the proposed Victim and Witness Strategy 2025–2030. We know from our client forums and from research that victims and witnesses face many barriers in accessing justice and navigating the criminal justice system, and as such it is important that a Strategy is informed by the lived experience of people who have been impacted by the system.
Our comments, recommendations, and questions are based on our expertise and experience supporting people impacted by sexual abuse and abusive relationships, as well as feedback from our clients on their experiences when engaging with the criminal justice system.
In October 2024, the Department of Justice published a consultation exercise to gather views and opinions from the public, the community and voluntary sector, and other key stakeholders to inform the development of a new Victim and Witness Strategy. This included a call for views on priorities, work streams, and recommendations to help improve the experiences of victims and witnesses who engage in the criminal justice system.
We know from our professional experience in supporting victims of sexual assault, rape and sexual abuse the most authentic way to engage with and learn from the experiences of those who have been the victim of, or a witness to, a crime is to facilitate accessible and meaningful opportunities for participation and co-design in a trauma informed way. Nexus does this by supporting ‘RESET’ clients (who have completed their therapeutic journey and who are interested in being advocates for those with lived experience) to develop their advocacy skills through specialist training to build their confidence in advocating through our user forum focus groups.
We engaged with our RESET clients to gather their thoughts on the Victim and Witness Strategy. For example, regarding delays in the criminal justice process, one client told us “After reporting my own abuse to the PSNI, no qualified officer was available to interview me for 3 weeks. 3 weeks to crawl back under my rock and bury what I lived with for 40 odd years. Time to think about the impact it would have had on everyone around me. I give up and left it.” All client responses can be found in the full consultation document.
The consultation asked respondents to provide comment on the victim journey, which encompasses every step that a victim may or may not go through, including accessing support services or emergency safety response, to filing a report, providing statements to the police, navigating various agencies, providing evidence, going to court, taking the stand and being cross-examined, waiting for the verdict, access support and counselling. In our response we asserted that the Victims and Witness Strategy is going to be effective and achieve its mission statement, then it must consider every step of the victim and witness journey.
You can view the full response by clicking here or on the image below. If you have any questions or comments about this consultation response, please contact communications@nexusni.org.
