Recently, the report titled ‘Victim Advocacy, the Role of the Legal Profession in Assisting Victims of Serious Violent and Sexual Crimes’ was made public. Arlette Schijns worked and co-wrote this research.
A brief summary of the findings:
‘This report, commissioned by the WODC and conducted by VU and NSCR, reports on an empirical study of the role of victim advocacy in realizing victim rights. It deals specifically with the role of the victim advocate in realizing the rights of a crime victim. The research shows that victim advocacy is an important player in realizing victim rights. For example, victim advocacy has a major/significant role in recovering damages in complex cases, obtaining access to the case file and adding documents to the case file.
In addition to contributing to the realization of victims' rights, victim advocacy has two overarching added values: the gown contributes to empowerment of victims during the hearing, and victim advocacy, as the only party involved in the criminal justice chain, guarantees biased and independent advocacy. An outcome of the study is also that for adequate representation of victims’ interests, broader compensation and early referral to victim advocacy is important.'
The report will play a role in the minister's policy on subsidized legal aid.
For more information about this study, please email schijns@beeradvocaten.nl.