Victims of rape and serious sexual offences can now apply for free transcripts of a judge's sentencing remarks, which are made after a verdict has been reached.
Following a one-year pilot, which commenced in May 2024, victims of these offences whose cases are heard in the Crown Court, will now be able to apply for these transcripts at no cost on an on-going basis.
Victims and survivors don't always feel able to attend sentence hearings so this will provide an opportunity to read in full what was said by the judge passing the sentence, including their decision on sentencing and reasons for imposing the sentence.
Ciara Bergman, Rape Crisis England & Wales’ CEO said:
“Rape Crisis England & Wales welcome the introduction of free access to sentencing remark transcripts for survivors of rape and sexual offences. This is a positive step toward ensuring transparency and empowering victims by giving them access to vital information about their case(s). Self-evidently, many survivors want a record of sentencing remarks, not only for completeness of their own records of the process, but also so that they can read and revisit these at their own pace. We hope this initiative marks further progress in putting victims’ needs at the heart of the criminal justice system .”