Slides which accompanied a paper delivered on the 9th of June 2014 at the final project conference of the EU funded project: 'Improving protection of victims' rights: access to legal aid' (JUST/2011/JPEN/AG/2924) in Poznan, Poland.

1. UK perspectives on legal aid for crime
victims.
Louise Taylor, Nottingham Trent University
9th
June 2014.

2. Jurisdictional issues.

3. The Code of Practice for Victims of
Crime 2013 (England and Wales).
• Enshrines service standards which were put
on a statutory basis for the first time under
the Domestic Violence, Crime and
Victims Act 2004.
• Revised Code published in 2013 to
accommodate Directive 2012/29/EU.
• Code does not contain legally enforceable
rights for crime victims (see s. 34).

4. Definition of ‘victim’ under the Code.
•“A person who has suffered harm, including
physical, mental or emotional harm or
economic loss which was directly caused by
criminal conduct”.
OR
•“A close relative of a person whose death was
directly caused by criminal conduct”.

5. The status of crime victims in English
domestic law.
• Bipartisan adversarial
system of justice.
• No special party status
beyond that of witness.
• No legally enforceable
victims’ rights, only
service standards.

6. Criminal legal aid (general)
•Legal aid is governed by the Legal Aid Agency,
which is part of the Ministry of Justice.
•Significant recent cuts in legal aid provision –
austerity measure.
•Current climate likely to be hostile to
development of further legal aid provision.

7. Legal aid provision for crime victims.
•Due to their lack of party status crime victims
are thought not to require, and therefore have
no entitlement to, legal aid. However, victims
can access:
–State funded support/advocacy services;
–Criminal injuries compensation;
–Legal aid to pursue civil actions connected to the
criminal matter, e.g. civil injunctions to protect
domestic violence victims (but only limited provision).