Victims' access to justice through English criminal courts, 1675 to the present

这个跨学科项目研究了从17世纪70年代到现在三个世纪以来英国公众诉诸司法的情况。汇集了主要的犯罪学家和犯罪历史学家，它将收集和分析这一时期涉及审判的20多万受害者的数据，以加强今天和未来受害者的权利，并为他们提供资源和服务。它将建立一个新的证据基础，以确定这些受害者是谁，他们与罪犯有什么关系，他们如何成为投诉人、检察官或证人，他们如何利用现有的法律和财政资源。自20世纪80年代以来，受害者已被牢牢地置于犯罪学和公共政策地图上。然而，令人惊讶的是，我们对过去的犯罪受害者知之甚少。我们不知道哪些受害者最有可能追究哪些案件，也不知道起诉结果（就无罪释放或定罪而言）如何映射到受害者的个人资料。我们可以想象仆人输给主人，女人输给男人，工人输给雇主，穷邻居输给富邻居，移民输给长期居民。但他们做到了吗？什么样的案件是由受害者、警察和皇家检察署（CPS）提交审判的？那些卷入未被审判案件的人如何获得诉诸司法的机会？哪些群体在什么情况下最能有效地诉诸司法？随着时间的推移，这种情况发生了怎样的变化？过去，受害者主导着英国的刑事司法体系。在18世纪和19世纪的大部分时间里，他们以原告的身份提起诉讼，担任自己的起诉律师，作为证人提供证据，并为追回失物提供个人奖励。他们的积极作用在19世纪后期急剧下降除了作为证人接受盘问外，他们的身体从法庭程序中移除了专业化的法定警务的兴起和CPS的创建。自1980年代以来，已在许多方面作出努力，将受害者重新置于司法系统的中心，并加强他们获得司法救助的经验。确保公平有效地诉诸司法是世界上许多国家的优先事项。它涉及公民在特定法律制度内寻求对其所受的错误、伤害和罪行的正式承认和纠正的能力。在面临重大政治或经济转型的国家，加强诉诸司法是加强治理、解决冲突和减少不平等的重要手段。在英格兰和威尔士，自1990年代初以来，促进人权、减少社会危害和改善司法服务的提供和质量的努力推动了这一议程。鉴于最近的政治对话和辩论，现在是重新评估这些长期趋势的关键时刻。该小组将从受害者的经验中提取模式和见解，这些受害者的案件在英国最重要的法院之一——伦敦中央刑事法院（Old Bailey）审理。该项目的成果将用于与受害者合作的国家机构，包括受害者专员、受害者支持、全国受害者和证人警务领导以及公民咨询部门的证人服务领导。该研究团队与“历史与政策”（一个专门为政策辩论提供历史证据的组织）的联系将非常有价值。该项目将为过去二十年来开展的更广泛的工作做出重大贡献，这些工作旨在改善诉诸司法的机会，从而为减少或缩小存在的“司法差距”提出战略建议。我们与刑事司法从业人员、政策制定者和社区团体有着密切的联系，除了我们的学术出版物和培训材料外，我们还将以生动易懂的形式展示我们的独特发现，以最大限度地发挥潜在的影响和公众参与。

This interdisciplinary project examines public access to justice in England over three centuries - from the 1670s to the present. Bringing together leading criminologists and crime historians, it will assemble and analyse data on over 200,000 victims involved in trials over this period in order to enhance the rights of, and resources and services available to, victims today and in the future. It will construct a new evidence base to establish who these victims were, what relationship they had with offenders, how they came to be complainants, prosecutors or witnesses, how they made use of available legal and financial resources.Since the 1980s, victims have been placed firmly on the criminological and public policy map. However, we know surprisingly little about past victims of crime. We do not know which victims were most likely to pursue which cases, or how prosecution outcomes (in terms of acquittal or conviction) map onto victims' profiles. We might imagine that servants lost out to their masters, women to men, workers to employers, poor neighbour to rich neighbour, migrant to long-term resident. But did they? What kinds of cases were brought to trial - by victims, by the police and by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)? How did those involved in cases not brought to trial secure access to justice? Which groups had the most effective access to justice in what circumstances and how has that changed over time?In the past, victims drove the criminal justice system in England. For much of the 18th and 19th centuries, they brought prosecutions as complainants, acted as their own prosecution lawyers, gave evidence as witnesses and put up personal rewards for the recovery of lost goods. Their active role declined dramatically in the later nineteenth century with their physical removal from court processes except as witnesses to be cross-examined and the rise of professionalised statutory policing and the creation of the CPS. From the 1980s on, efforts have been made on many fronts to re-centre victims within the justice system and to enhance their experience of, access to, justice. Securing fair and effective access to justice is a priority for many states around the world. It concerns citizens' ability to seek formal acknowledgement and redress, within a given legal system, of wrongs, harms and offences committed against them. In states facing major political or economic transitions, strengthening access to justice is as a vital means of strengthening governance, resolving conflict and reducing inequalities. In England and Wales, this agenda has been driven, since the early 1990s, by efforts to promote human rights, to reduce social harms and to improve the delivery and quality of judicial services. Given recent political dialogue and debate, now is a critical moment to re-evaluate these long-term trends.The team will draw out patterns and insights from the experiences of victims whose cases were heard in one of the nation's most important courts: the Old Bailey (London's Central Criminal Court). The results of this project will be used by national agencies working with victims, including the Victims' Commissioner, Victim Support, the National Policing Lead for Victims and Witnesses, and Witness Service leads within Citizens Advice. The research team's links with History and Policy, an organisation specialising in bringing historical evidence to bear in policy debates, will be very valuable here.The project will make a significant contribution to wider work undertaken over the past two decades to improve access to justice and, thereby, to recommend strategies for reducing or closing 'justice gaps' where these exist. We have strong connections with criminal justice practitioners, policy makers and community groups and, in addition to our academic publications and training materials, will present our unique findings in lively and accessible formats to maximise potential impact and public engagement.