{"id":457,"date":"2016-10-10T15:06:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T14:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/voicenorthants.local\/myvoice\/?page_id=457"},"modified":"2016-11-04T14:58:37","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T14:58:37","slug":"victims-right-to-review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/the-police-investigation\/victims-right-to-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Victim\u2019s Right to Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A victim&#8217;s right to review (VRR) relates to the right for a victim to ask for a review of a decision not to prosecute a suspect. It is important to note the right to review is not a complaint about service.<\/p>\n<p>Northamptonshire Police has a scheme which enables a victim of crime in certain circumstances to ask for a\u00a0review of decisions made not to prosecute or progress and\u00a0investigation involving a suspect.<\/p>\n<p>The purpose of a review is not to apportion blame but to secure justice and\u00a0when identified, learn lessons which can be shared with officers to improve the\u00a0quality of decision making.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Who is eligible to ask for a review?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Any victim in a qualifying case where a decision is made not to prosecute is entitled to seek a review of that decision. A victim is defined as per The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime 2013 (Victims\u2019\u00a0Code):\u00a0\u2018a person who has suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or\u00a0economic loss which was directly caused by criminal conduct\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>close relatives of a person whose death was directly caused by criminal\u00a0conduct<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>parents or guardians where the main victim is a child or youth under 18<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>police officers who are victims of crime<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>family spokespersons of victims with a disability or who are so badly injured\u00a0that they cannot communicate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>businesses, providing they give a named point of contact<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What circumstances apply to a right of review?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>VRR will only apply to cases in which a suspect has been identified and interviewed\u00a0under caution, either following an arrest or by voluntary arrangement. An \u2018interview\u2019\u00a0in this context is intended to cover situations where a suspect has an allegation put to\u00a0them in some detail as opposed to limited questioning that might take place in the\u00a0immediate aftermath of an incident, for instance during a stop and search.<\/p>\n<p>The right of a victim to request a review arises where the police:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>make a decision not to bring proceedings in cases where the police have<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>make a decision that the case does not meet the Threshold Test for referral<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What type of investigations apply to this right?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The following cases\u00a0do not\u00a0fall within the scope of police VRR<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>cases where no suspect has been identified and interviewed, for instance\u00a0investigations that are filed \u2018at source\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>cases where charges are brought in respect of some (but not all) allegations\u00a0made or against some (but not all) possible suspects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>cases where a charge is brought that relates to the matter complained about\u00a0by the victim but the offence charged differs from the crime that was\u00a0recorded, for instance the suspect is charged with common assault but an\u00a0offence of actual bodily harm has been recorded<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>cases which are concluded by way of out of court disposal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>cases where the victim retracts their complaint or refuses to co-operate with\u00a0the investigation and a decision is therefore taken not to charge\/not to refer\u00a0the case to the CPS for a charging decision<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>When can I apply for a right of review?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Victim Right of Review came in to effect in April 2015. It relates only to decisions made from\u00a0the 1st of April 2015, not to prosecute. The crime may have occurred before April however.<\/p>\n<p>A Victim has the right to request a review within three months of being notified of the decision not\u00a0to prosecute.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How will I be told of my entitlement to a review?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>All victims should be notified of their right to ask for a review at the point they are informed\u00a0of the decision not to prosecute.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How do I contact the police to ask for a review?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>You can contact Northamptonshire Police by filling out this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northants.police.uk\/forms\/default.aspx?id=forms&amp;formid=4&amp;contact=3\">form<\/a> to exercise your right of review. You will be\u00a0prompted to answer a number of questions to help us find your investigation and confirm your\u00a0eligibility to ask for a review.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What will the review involve?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A review will be allocated to a Review Officer of Inspector or more senior rank, dependant on the\u00a0nature of the investigation. The Review Officer will contact you and explain the process including\u00a0how they plan to conduct the review.<\/p>\n<p>The Review Officer will approach the case afresh and reach their own conclusion regarding\u00a0whether a prosecution should be brought, whether the matter should be referred to the\u00a0CPS, whether further enquires are necessary or that no further action should be taken.<\/p>\n<p>The Review Officer will not assess whether the original decision was justified based on the\u00a0process that was taken to reach it.<\/p>\n<p>The method of communicating the outcome of a review with a victim may be determined\u00a0on a case by case basis; review decisions should be confirmed in writing, unless the\u00a0circumstances of the case make it inappropriate to do so or the victim has stated that they\u00a0do not wish to receive written communication.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Can I appeal the decision of the review?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Northamptonshire Police operate a single tier review scheme with no further right of appeal\u00a0by the victim.<\/p>\n<div class=\"helpful-block-content wth-theme-thumbs\" data-title=\"\" >\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"wth-title\">Did you find this page helpful?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a data-post=\"457\" data-post-url=\"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/the-police-investigation\/victims-right-to-review\/\" data-post-title=\"Victim\u2019s Right to Review\" data-response=\"1\" href=\"#\" class=\"wth-green-btn icon-thumbsup\">Yes<\/a>&nbsp; &nbsp;<a data-response=\"0\" data-post=\"457\" data-post-url=\"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/the-police-investigation\/victims-right-to-review\/\" data-post-title=\"Victim\u2019s Right to Review\" href=\"#\" class=\"wth-red-btn icon-thumbsdown\">No<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A victim&#8217;s right to review (VRR) relates to the right for a victim to ask for a review of a decision not to prosecute a suspect. It is important to note the right to review is not a complaint about service. Northamptonshire Police has a scheme which enables a victim of crime in certain circumstances &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/the-police-investigation\/victims-right-to-review\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Victim\u2019s Right to Review&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":656,"parent":9,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-parts\/sub-sub.php","meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":661,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/457\/revisions\/661"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voicenorthants.org\/myvoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}