We will now present the main results of the Dutch research project – first regarding police and prosecution in preliminary proceedings, and then for the court – and address needs of victim protection and awareness for victim needs following the main provisions of the Victim Protection Directive 2012/29/EU. Our information is based on the analysis of diaries of the Dutch prosecution as well as on interviews and discussions within the framework of the project advisory board with experts from the police, judiciary and victim protection institutions, as well as on some interviews with victims of violence.
# Introduction
In the European directive victims of partner violence have been indicated as vulnerable victims. For the implementation of the Directive in the Netherlands a programme has been established to increase the protection of vulnerable victims. This will have a positive effect on the future settlement of partner violence cases, because the police will have to make an individual assessment of the likelihood of recidivism and subsequently measures have to be taken to prevent repeated violence. This means that the whole criminal justice chain will have to pay more attention to the protection of victims of partner violence.
In addition, since 2015 the public prosecution has a separate programme for Youth, domestic violence and vice, in which the meaningful settlement of this kind of cases has priority. This will create more attention for the importance of contextual information and good cooperation and alignment with not just the criminal justice chain partners, but also the chain partners in care, in particular the Advice and Reporting Organization Domestic Violence and Child Abuse (Veilig Thuis).
# Police and Prosecution
(i) To Understand and to Be Understood – Victim Protection Directive, articles 3, 5 and 7
Research results
⊲ Domestic violence specialists usually have a good understanding of the various, sometimes contradictory, needs of victims of violence by partners or former partners. Professionals who support victims are best able to formulate these needs. Victims emphasize that they want protection, and ways to break through the spiral of violence. They want the violence to stop, but they do not always wish for a severe sentence: many especially wish for help.
⊲ Most victims do not want compensation for the damage. It is possible to get compensation in the different phases of the criminal procedure.
⊲ The interviews with victims and professionals who work with victims show that victims who go to the police often do not feel acknowledged, especially when police officers are not well trained. Victims do not feel they can relate their story
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and are being taken seriously. There is a need for respectful police officers who continue to ask questions and through that make it easier for victims to tell the whole story. No proper assessment of the seriousness of the violence is made because the focus is on the incident, and the context within which the violence takes place is left out of the picture.
⊲ For those victims whose mother tongue is not Dutch, and who depend on interpreters’ services, it is hard to understand and to be understood. We did not find special information about this topic during the research. In the court files (prosecution diaries and individual court files), we did not found one single indication that documents were translated.
⊲ There is a system of interpreters’ services in which the interpreter is on the phone. They are available during 24 hours. In half of the cases (N=6) in which the victim or perpetrator did not speak Dutch at all, a phone interpreter was used. In the other cases a family member or interpreter joint the interview or it was unclear whether there was an interpreter or not.
Victims’ needs are respected when:
☐ Police and prosecutors are well trained in domestic violence and understand the needs of the victim
☐ A proper assessment of the seriousness of the violence is made.
☐ Starting with the filing of charges, possible problems with language/ communication are taken into account and, when in doubt, interpreters’ services are requested.
☐ The police protocol of the complaint has to be translated if necessary.
☐ In particular children or other relatives should not be used as interpreters in the police interview, especially because of connected conflicts of loyalty and psychological stress. Objectivity of interpreters has to be ensured.
☐ Confirmation of reporting the offence, criminal charges, court summons, decisions etc. have to be translated into the victims’/ the accused’s mother tongues if needed.
☐ Further trainings of police officers and prosecutors regarding communication, interview techniques and the recording of interviews would improve their quality.
(ii) Information – Victim Protection Directive, articles 4 and 6 Research results
⊲ In general, victims usually receive oral and written information regarding their rights as well as regarding legal and psychosocial support during their first contact with police or, at the latest, during the police interview.
⊲ However, the quality of this information in terms of its extent and intelligibility varies. According to victims and counselling institutions, specialised officers are better at passing on information.
⊲ The complaint is not delivered to the victim, although the police is required to do so by indication.
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⊲ According to victims’ and counselling agencies’ experiences, information that is essential for the victim’s safety, for instance regarding the imposition of a barring order or release from custody, is not always delivered. Since the special Victims Front Office ‘Slachtoffer Loket’ at the Public Prosecutors Service the information is better delivered, especially when victims have a lawyer.
⊲ Since 2015 there is a special booklet for Victims of Domestic Violence about their rights in different languages. This booklet is developed after complaints of victims of domestic violence who were organized in the shelter movement.
Police and victims worked on the booklet together.
I was there to tell my story. I wanted to tell everything, but I couldn’t. I was afraid. So I told them a weak story because I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave him and a report would only worsen the situation. I was partly to blame, but the police did not persist in asking questions about the violence, so I didn’t tell.
Survivor of intimate partner violence
Victims’ needs are respected when:
☐ Information is passed on in an intelligible and situation-adjusted manner. The majority of victims are legal laypersons and do not have any experience with the law, and in a stressful situation (e.g. immediately after the assault or during the police interview), their receptivity is additionally limited.
☐ Information should, on the one hand, be repeated, and, if necessary, supplemented as the situation requires, and, on the other hand, be presented in plain and simple language (oral and written).
You notice that victims are not able to grasp or fully understand the information during a crime reporting. Just giving them a phone call a few days later can be really helpful for a victim.
Police
☐ Victims have a fixed contact they can call or email when they have further questions.
☐ In order to comply with these requirements, communication with specific groups of victims needs to be addressed in police training/ further training.
☐ Case-related information should be a special focus, as it is essential for the victims’ safety and sense of security. Where there is no specialised officer in a police station, naming a contact with the police who the victim can turn to (at all hours) would be helpful.
☐ It is necessary to stress the importance of medical care and the securing of medical evidence.