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AlexLinch/iStock
28
November
2024

Stepping up the response to victims of crime: FRA’s findings on challenges and solutions

This paper outlines key challenges and solutions when it comes to promoting and protecting victims’ rights across the EU. It draws on FRA research over the past decade. It focuses on reporting crime, protection from secondary victimisation and victim support services. The paper highlights challenges and solutions in each of these areas, drawing directly from FRA’s published work. The challenges are based on the Agency’s data gathered from large-scale quantitative surveys of victims and in-depth qualitative research, including testimonies from victims and practitioners. The solutions draw from effective practices in various EU countries that address the practical needs of victims and improve their access to rights.

According to Articles 8 and 9 of the Victims’ Rights Directive, victims have a right to free and appropriate victim support services. In addition, Member States must ensure that victims are supported in a manner that respects their right to equal treatment. This right derives from Article 20 of the Charter.

Victims of crime have the right to various forms of assistance, including generic (available to all victims of crime) and specific support services (available to certain categories of victims, often considered to be in particular situations of vulnerability), and Member States’ governments must ensure that these are available to all categories of victims on a reasonably equal basis. It is important to note that a victim’s right to support begins immediately after experiencing crime and it does not depend on the start of the criminal procedure (Underpinning victims’ rights, 2023).

Besides providing emotional and psychological support, FRA’s research shows that victim support services play an essential role in providing victims with information that is often beyond police capacity; for example about their rights, as well as practical information about their role in proceedings and what to expect (Justice for victims of violent crime, Part II, 2019). Victims who are unsure about whether or not to report to the police often decide to do so after contacting a victim support service and receiving information and/or support from these services.

Despite the clear role that victim support services play in supporting victims to act upon their rights, and helping them through criminal proceedings, some FRA surveys indicate low levels of victims reaching out to or victim support services about incidents of crime. For example:

  • FRA’s Fundamental Rights Survey (general population) shows that the majority of victims of violent crime did not contact any organisations or service following an incident of physical violence, and of those 36% who did, only 6% contacted victim support services (see Figure 4, Crime, safety and victims’ rights – Fundamental Rights Survey, 2021).
  • Of LGBTIQ persons who experienced hate-motivated physical or sexual violence, only 1% informed a general victim support service (LGBTIQ at a crossroads: progress and challenges, 2024).
  • Out of women in EU-27 who experienced physical and/or sexual violence during their lifetime, by any perpetrator, 6.4 % contacted a support service as a result of experiencing violence (EU gender-based violence survey, 2024). In the context of the survey results, ‘support service’ includes victim support services as well as other services providing support that victims of violence may need.

Figure 4 – Organisations and services contacted following the incident of physical violence (%)

Bar chart displaying the types of organisations and services victims contacted following the incident of physical violence. The data show average responses from the EU-27 countries. The data range from 4% contacting ‘Another service/organisation’ to 17% contacting ‘Doctor, health centre, hospital, other healthcare institution’. The majority (64%) said ‘I did not contact any service/organisation’. As mentioned in the text, 6% contacted a victim support organisation. 

Source: FRA (2020), Fundamental Rights Survey. Data explorer, Organisations and services contacted following the incident of physical violence, EU-27.

FRA’s qualitative research findings (Justice for victims of violent crime, Part II, 2019) set out some of the key barriers that prevent victims from accessing support services. These relate to fragmented coordination and funding of victim support services, as well as differences in quality and overall availability of support services. Taken together, challenges relating to coordination, funding, quality and availability of victim support services can lead to an artificial ‘hierarchy’ of services. Alongside fragmented investments, these can result in different levels of support provided to victims, depending on the type of crime they fall victim to and also where they live (Underpinning victims’ rights, 2023).

FRA data indicate that victim support services are not typically the responsibility of a single ministry; nor are they funded from a single ministry’s budget (Justice for victims of violent crime, Part II, 2019). They are often provided by NGOs that operate on the basis of one-year or limited duration grants/contracts which are usually funded by ministries of the interior, justice or social affairs. These ministries have different interests and approaches. Ministries of the interior may focus on police cooperation with support organisations in encouraging victims to report crimes and in protecting victims from repeat victimisation. Justice ministries may focus more on victims’ participation in criminal proceedings, while social affairs ministries may be more interested in supporting victims in crisis or in providing state compensation. The complexity of the system can increase in Member States where subsidies come from different levels of government (e.g. national, provincial and/or municipal), or from other sources.

In addition, diverse contexts and legal traditions, including the degree of attention given to certain victim groups or causes, have affected how support services have developed across Member States over time, and have led to a tendency for some Member States to focus victim support provision on certain categories of victims (Underpinning victims’ rights, 2023). Targeted support services are often not widely available. For example, many shelters for women who are victims of violence can be found only in bigger cities, which has a very practical (negative) impact on the possibility of victims approaching and getting support (Violence against women survey, 2014).

Overall, despite the Victims’ Rights Directive obliging Member States to provide both generic and specialised support services, current practice in some Member States reveals gaps in the existence/availability of both generic and specialised support services.

Furthermore, FRA’s research shows that very few Member States have a system in place to ensure the quality of victim support services, and specific quality or performance standards have not been established at the EU level. This has allowed Member States to develop different approaches, which has a direct impact on the quality of the services available to victims.

Victims also face barriers in accessing support services. This could be partially explained by insufficient availability of victim support services, but FRA data also point to other factors. For example: a lack of visibility and low awareness by victims about victim support services in general; poor knowledge from the police of local specialised support services; and ineffective channels to connect different actors who typically come into contact with victims (Encouraging hate crime reporting, 2021).

FRA’s findings point to a general need for more effective channels of communication and for exchanging information among the police, support services and judicial authorities (Justice for victims of violent crime, Part II, 2019). Ifexisting support services are inaccessible or if victims struggle to find a support organisation, they might fail to access support services, which has a negative impact on their rights.

FRA research (Underpinning victims’ rights, 2023) has highlighted various key actions needed to tackle the above challenges and pave the way for more effective victim support services that can deliver on ensuring victims’ rights. For example:

  • Introduce measures to strengthen and further develop the system of organisations providing victim support services – including ensuring widespread coverage/availability throughout the country.
  • Ensure centralised cooperation between and coordination of all organisations providing support services to victims.
  • Establish accreditation mechanisms to ensure that support services meet defined performance standards.
  • Improve standardised referral mechanisms.

The following section focuses on improving coordination of victim support services, introducing accreditation mechanisms and improving referral mechanisms to illustrate concrete actions that can address some of the key challenges of ensuring effective victim support.

Introducing a requirement for centralised cooperation between and coordination of all organisations providing support services to victims at national level, including their funding, can be one solution to guarantee the availability of victim support services on a reasonably equal basis. Ideally, these services should function as an efficient, robust and complete network to ensure that every victim can quickly find and access appropriate support (Underpinning victims’ rights, 2023).

This does not mean that all support services must be offered to the same extent (Underpinning victims’ rights, 2023). The demand for support can differ significantly between services, as it reflects the number and needs of victims of a particular crime and/or a victim’s willingness to approach certain services. However, at the very least, some standard categories of victims should be considered and there should be a geographical spread of support to make sure victims do not have to travel an unreasonable distance to be able to access appropriate support, also acknowledging that all services cannot be offered online.

Regarding the quality of victim support services, introducing a national system of accreditation can be a very effective safeguard, as FRA research has shown (Underpinning victims’ rights, 2023). A register of accredited victim support services would make it easier for the police and criminal justice authorities to decide which services can be called on to provide reliable victim support that meets defined standards. Such systems exist in several Member States and make it easier for the police and criminal justice authorities to know which organisations are available and can be trusted to deliver support services that meet defined standards.

Introducing this requirement aims to ensure that minimum performance standards are met. National authorities should clearly define such standards and monitor the compliance of all organisations that provide support services to victims, and especially those organisations that receive government funding.

A register of accredited victim support services that meet certain performance standards would also be an effective way of letting victims know which organisations enjoy the support of state authorities (FRA Fundamental Rights Report 2022, p. 219). In time, this should also increase the probability of victims reaching out to support services. Moreover, the important work of NGOs that support victims – which do not necessarily receive government funding – needs to be acknowledged, while NGOs need to be able to maintain their independence.

As the main point of contact with many victims of crime, the police should have channels in place to carry out referrals to victim support services. They should understand and value the work of these services, be able to explain the benefits of being supported to victims and have a complete picture of existing support services. To facilitate and ensure clear referral pathways, standardised referral mechanisms should be established and used by the competent authorities that receive the complaint.

As highlighted in this paper, in many cases victims report their victimisation to other entities besides the police. This means that referral mechanisms should not be only one directional, but should ideally work between the police and other organisations, including victim support services and other civil society organisations (Violence against women survey, 2014).

It is important to note that referrals should be based on the informed decisions of victims (with exceptions in some instances to safeguard the victim), who can of course choose not to act upon their right to avail of support. Pending victims’ consent, police can prompt support services to contact victims directly (thus avoiding the need for victims to reach out to support services themselves).

Effective referral mechanisms should see specialised protocols, trained personnel and appropriate facilities in place to address victims of certain categories of crime, such as children, victims of sexual abuse or victims of hate crime. Referral mechanisms should also ensure robust data protection systems and confidentiality.