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Your rights as a victim

Your rights as a victim

Note: If you do not understand some words in this document, you can find the meanings on the DPP website under ‘Commonly Used Terms’. Please click the Easy Read/Plain English version.

There are laws in place to protect the rights of Victims of Crime in the ACT. There is a document called the ‘Victims of Crime Act 1994’ which has these laws in it. Some of these include:

  1. A victim should be treated kindly and with respect. People should listen to their needs and rights.
  2. A victim should be told about their case and given information about once a month. If it might harm the case by doing this, the victim should be told this.
  3. A victim should be told about the charges against the defendant and if these change.
  4. A victim should be told if the defendant will plead guilty so they can get a less serious sentence or if they plead guilty to a less serious charge.
  5. A victim should be told if there is any decision to drop the charges.
  6. If Police take any items that belong to the victim for evidence, they should be given back as soon as possible.
  7. A victim should be told about the Court process, what rights witnesses have and what they are meant to do
  8. A victim should be protected from seeing or hearing the defendant or defence witnesses which is not needed
  9. The home address of a victim should be protected unless the Court says it should be public.
  10. A victim should not have to be at any Court date until they are needed, unless the Court says they should be.
  11. A victim should be given the reasons for the outcome of the case and told what the sentence is, if any.
  12. If the victim feels that they need to be protected from a defendant, they should be told if the defendant will be released from jail.

The DPP aims to always follow these rules.

The DPP has some information on how our office deals with victims’ rights, such as the right to want a Court outcome looked at by the Director.

You can find this information in some documents called ‘Director’s Instructions’.

You can find these on the main page of victim’s rights on the DPP website.

Please note these are not in Plain English yet. If you would like help understanding these, please call the DPP Witness Assistance Service. The best number to call is 02 6207 5399.