Your rights as a victim of crime are laid down in law in the Victim Charter and the Witness Charter. These are pieces of legislation which state how you should be treated by organisations and agencies you need to engage with along your criminal justice journey.  You can read young people’s guides to the Victim Charter here  and you’ll find the Witness Charter here.
Watch the video we made with the NSPCC to highlight your rights as a victim or witness of crime.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by the UK in 1991 – this means that the UK government must make sure that every child living in the UK must have the rights laid down in this convention. These rights include that all children should have equal rights regardless of their race, colour, sex, language, religion, disability, birth or other status. It also states that you should be given the chance to give your opinion about decisions that will affect you, and that the people making the decision should take your opinions into account.

The Convention also states that the government should protect you from physical or mental violence, injury, abuse, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation, while you are living with your parents or are in the care of someone else.

In Northern Ireland, children are defined as anyone under the age of 18 and are treated as ‘vulnerable’ witnesses. This means that special measures can be applied to help you give your best evidence. You may not have to appear in court, with your ABE interview used instead. If you do have to appear in court, the courtroom can be cleared, legal staff may have to remove wigs and robes, or you may be able to give your evidence from a different room. At all times, you can be supported by the NSPCC Young Witness Service.

This depends on your age.
If you are 12 years old or under, we can ONLY support you with your parent or guardian’s permission. They will be with you when you are talking to our staff and volunteers unless they choose to let you meet with us on your own or with another trusted adult.  However, we are here to support you and what you have to say is important.

If you are 13 or over we can support you without parental permission, although we would encourage you to think about involving them for support.  The only time we would not support you without your parent’s permission is if our trained staff and volunteers feel you are not able to make decisions and understand what is happening in the same way as others your age.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT:
If you disclose (tell us) any information about a crime, the offender, any witness to the incident or the location of the incident we must report this to the PSNI.
The law says we have to do this.

Victim Support NI’s service is confidential and we will not report your crime to the police unless you ask us to help you with this.  We can support you to recover from the impact of crime whether you have reported the crime to police or not.  However, if you tell us something that makes us think you are in immediate danger, or if you tell us something about which we have a legal requirement to tell the police, as detailed in Section 5 of the Criminal Law Act Northern Ireland (1967), we will do so in order to keep you safe from harm.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT:
If you disclose (tell us) any information about a crime, the offender, any witness to the incident or the location of the incident we must report this to the PSNI.
The law says we have to do this.