The Charter of Victims’ Rights and your role
It is your responsibility if you or your agency work with victims of violent crime to understand the Charter of Victims’ Rights (the Charter) and how it applies to you and your agency. This will ensure your conduct supports and empowers victims that you come into contact with.
The Charter is split into 4 areas:
- Appropriate treatment of victims.
- Victims’ rights in the criminal justice system.
- Victims’ rights when the offender is imprisoned.
- A victim's right to make a complaint.
A victim is a person who is:
- harmed by a violent crime committed against them
- a family member or dependant of a person who has died or suffered harm because of a violent crime
- a person who has suffered harm because they intervened to help a person who has died or suffered harm because of a violent crime.
A violent crime includes:
- homicide
- sexual violence
- threats of violence
- domestic and family violence.
Respect, courtesy, compassion and dignity
A victim will be treated with courtesy, compassion, respect and dignity, taking into account their needs.
Privacy
A victim’s personal information, including the victim’s address and telephone number, will not be disclosed unless authorised by law.
Information about services
A victim will be informed, as soon as practically possible, about services and options available to them.
Information about the investigation
A victim will be informed about the progress of the investigation of the crime, unless it may jeopardise and investigation. In this case you will need to explain this to them.
Information about the prosecution and court matters
A victim will be informed of each major decision made about the prosecution of the accused, including the reasons.
This includes decisions about:
- the charges against the accused
- not charging the accused
- substantially changing the charges
- accepting a guilty plea to a lesser or different charge.
A victim will be informed about:
- the name of the person or people charged with the crime
- the issuing of a warrant for the arrest of the accused
- details of relevant court processes, including when the victim may attend a court proceeding and the date and place of hearing of a charge against the accused
- details of an application for bail made by the accused, including any court hearings
- details of any diversionary programs available to the accused in relation to the crime, such as the Drug and Alcohol Court
- the outcome of a criminal proceeding against the accused, including the sentence imposed and the outcome of any appeal.
Information about bail applications
The victim will be informed about the accused’s bail application and any arrangements made for their release. This includes any special bail conditions that may impact the victim’s safety or welfare.
Information about the role of a witness
If the victim is a witness at the accused’s trial, they will be informed about the process and their role as a witness.
Contact with the accused at court
During a court proceeding, the victim will be protected from unnecessary contact, violence, or intimidation by:
- the accused
- defence witnesses
- family members and supporters of the accused.
Victim impact statements
If the accused is found guilty, a victim may make or give a victim impact statement to the court. This will be taken into consideration by the court during the sentencing process.
Return of victim’s property
A victim’s property held by the state for an investigation or as evidence will be returned to the victim or their family, in the case of a victim’s death, as soon as possible.
Convicted offender information
If an offender is sentenced to prison, eligible people can nominate themselves to be placed on the victims register.
There are two registers – one for adult offenders, and the other for youth offenders. Queensland Corrective Services manages the register for adult offenders and Youth Justice manages the register for youth offenders.
If the offender is an adult, eligible people will be kept informed of information about the offender, including:
- the offender’s period of imprisonment
- the offender’s eligibility or actual date for release
- information about parole applications
- the escape of the offender from custody or whether the offender is unlawfully at large.
If the offender is under 18 years of age and is sentenced to youth detention, registered people will be kept informed of:
- the offender’s transfer to an adult prison
- the offender’s period of detention
- the offender’s eligibility for or due date for release.
Opportunity to make written submissions to the parole board
People on the victims’ register will be contacted if an offender they are registered against applies for parole. At this time they will be given the opportunity to write to the parole board and provide information which will be considered as part of the decision to grant parole to the offender, or any parole conditions.