Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004

32 Code of practice for victims

(1) The Secretary of State must issue a code of practice as to the services to be provided to a victim of criminal conduct by persons appearing to him to have functions relating to—

(a) victims of criminal conduct, or

(b) any aspect of the criminal justice system.

(2) The code may restrict the application of its provisions to—

(a) specified descriptions of victims;

(b) victims of specified offences or descriptions of conduct;

(c) specified persons or descriptions of persons appearing to the Secretary of State to have functions of the kind mentioned in subsection (1).

(3) The code may include provision requiring or permitting the services which are to be provided to a victim to be provided to one or more others—

(a) instead of the victim (for example where the victim has died);

(b) as well as the victim.

(4) The code may make different provision for different purposes, including different provision for—

(a) different descriptions of victims;

(b) persons who have different functions or descriptions of functions;

(c) different areas.

(5) The code may not require anything to be done by—

(a) a person acting in a judicial capacity;

(b) a person acting in the discharge of a function of a member of the Crown Prosecution Service which involves the exercise of a discretion.

(6) In determining whether a person is a victim of criminal conduct for the purposes of this section, it is immaterial that no person has been charged with or convicted of an offence in respect of the conduct.

(7) In this section—

• “criminal conduct” means conduct constituting an offence;

• “specified” means specified in the code.