Key Facts

• Amendment 3 would amend clause 2 to include specific provisions in the Victims’ code.
• The amendment aims to protect victims who have experienced or made allegations of sexual abuse, harassment, or misconduct.
• It includes enforcement of non-disclosure agreements and provision for legal advice and support for victims signing NDAs.
• NDAs should not prevent disclosures to police, health care professionals, legal professionals.
• It is illegal for NDAs to conceal criminal offences or stop someone from cooperating with the police.
• The amendments aim to include victims who have signed NDAs preventing them from speaking about criminal conduct.
• Amendment 1 aims to explicitly include victims of sexual abuse, bullying or harassment in the definition.
• Amendments 2 and 3 seek to expand the definition to cover individuals who have experienced behavior covered by NDAs but which is not criminal.
• The Bill restricts the definition of a victim to those of crime and does not list specific entitlements for different types of victims explicitly.
• Victims of antisocial behaviour often face stress, misery, and despair.
• Serious antisocial acts can precede serious crimes like knife crime and gang activity.
• Current law does not guarantee support for victims of antisocial behaviour under the Victims Code.
• The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 established a community trigger for three reported incidents of ASB over six months.
• Victims like Sarah suffered miscarriages due to stress from repeated antisocial behaviour without entitlement to support.
• A report by the Victims’ Commissioner found low awareness of the community trigger among public and relevant agencies.
• Eagle highlights the long-term impact of antisocial behaviour on constituents.
• She mentions instances where perpetrators are known to other agencies but remain unsolved.
• The veteran case example illustrates the severe consequences for individuals subjected to ongoing antisocial behaviour.
• The amendment would include victims of antisocial behaviour in the definition if they have suffered harm as a direct result.
• It uses definitions from the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
• The Government acknowledges that non-criminal antisocial behaviour significantly impacts communities.
• The current draft of the Bill seeks to be permissive rather than prescriptive in defining criminal behavior.
• Individuals affected by antisocial behavior that constitutes a crime can already benefit from measures outlined in the victims code and legislation.
• There is an amendment seeking to include a clear community trigger for victim support.
• Government's antisocial behaviour action plan includes £160 million of funding.
• Immediate justice programme aims to make offenders undertake reparative activities for victims or support local communities.
• Debate on balancing national consistency with local tailoring in victim support services.
• Edward Leigh proposes Amendments 17, 51, 18, and 52.
• Amendment 17 aims to include victims of child criminal exploitation in clause 1.
• Amendment 51 defines 'child criminal exploitation'.
• Amendment 18 provides a definition for 'adult sexual exploitation'.
• In England in 2021-22, there were more than 16,000 instances of child sexual exploitation as a factor at the end of social worker assessments; 11,600 instances of gangs being a factor; and 10,140 instances of child criminal exploitation being a factor.
• Research estimates that in England alone there could be up to 200,000 children aged 11 to 17 who are vulnerable to serious violence due to high crime or income deprivation levels.
• In 2021-22, an estimated 27,000 children at risk of gang exploitation were not identified by services and missed out on support.
• Robbie, a 15-year-old boy, was arrested with drugs but not recognised as a victim by the NRM.
• Robbie's case was supported by the Children’s Society’s disrupting exploitation programme in June 2019.
• Amendments 17 and 18 aim to protect vulnerable children and focus on criminals exploiting them.
• Amendments 51 and 52 seek to provide a definition of adult sexual exploitation.
• STAGE group is supported by the National Lottery community fund and highlights the extent of adult women's sexual exploitation.
• N, a case study from Leeds, experienced child sexual exploitation until age 18 but was not recognized as a victim after turning 18 due to lack of statutory definition.
• The former Children’s Commissioner estimated that 27,000 children are at high risk of gang exploitation.
• During 2020, 2,544 children were referred to the national referral mechanism due to concerns about child criminal exploitation.
• A third of local authorities had a policy in place to respond to child criminal exploitation.
• Child criminal exploitation cases often go unrecognized by judicial systems.
• Training has been rolled out for judges on identifying victims of child sexual exploitation, leading to more informed decisions.
• Only 30 charges under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 were flagged as child abuse in 2019-2020 compared to 22,000 cases recognized by the Children’s Society.
• British Transport police has limited resources and budget, making it difficult to respond effectively to reported incidents of criminal exploitation.
• A nine-day wait for police response is mentioned as a problem.
• The victim code and justice system could benefit greatly from accepting two definitions.