Majority of victims don't believe reporting crimes leads to justice, report reveals

The Victims' Commissioner told ITV News that change is needed and people 'deserve better', as Sejal Karia reports

It's their job to keep us safe - by investigating crimes and catching the criminals.

But a new landmark survey by the Victims’ Commissioner shared exclusively with ITV News, reveals a picture where victims are giving up on police, crimes are going unreported and there is a devastating lack of confidence in the criminal justice system.

Take Ben Selvaratnam, a shop owner whose convenience store is one of those on the frontline of the shoplifting epidemic.

He is fighting a losing battle against an ever more brazen band of thieves.

It's not only costing him hundreds of pounds a week but he is losing faith in the police who he says do nothing.

He's given up and now doesn't even bother calling 999.

"We've been attacked. We've been assaulted verbally and physically. I myself was bottled when I tried to confront them and they used the bottles to smash us," he said.

"We have to fend for ourselves," he continues. "We had an incident where £50 of goods were stolen. The perpetrators, one of them was caught outside. We had CCTV, but the police decided not to take anything further because, in their words, it was not in the public interest. So more often than not, we don't actually bother to report these incidents now."

And he is far from alone.

Shockingly, today's Victim Commissioner's survey has revealed 73% of those surveyed were not confident that reporting a crime would lead to justice. Of those who did, 40% said they were dissatisfied with the police response. And worryingly, despite being more likely to be victims of crime, almost half (45%) of disabled victims said they too were dissatisfied with the response and were less likely to report a crime to the police again.

The Victims Commissioner, Baroness Helen Newlove, told ITV News: "I think they [victims] must feel dreadful... so disillusioned, disbelieved."

"If a person has been raped, sexually abused or been harmed... for somebody in authority that you think I can go report to, doesn't believe you. They will feel internally that actually they're guilty. It must be something wrong about them, and they'll have no confidence within a system that should be there to protect them, listen to them and treat them with dignity."

Baroness Newlove became a campaigner for victims after her husband, Garry, was beaten to death outside their home in Warrington by youths vandalising her car.

"Are police failing victims?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said. "I think the time has come, to actually look at the culture alongside the policies... treat them victims with respect and give their voice some gravity and listen to what they're saying."

For years, Amy (not her real name) has been abused, harassed and intimidated by her neighbour.

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"We had nails in our [car] tyre, we were followed down the street at night, he tried to grab us over the fence and tried to be inappropriate," she said. "He was trying to kill us, emotionally... to crush us in every sense because we had dared to say no."

She was targeted for being disabled and being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Despite numerous complaints to the police, she told ITV News that investigations have gone nowhere.

"How would you sum up the police response?" I asked her.

"Inadequate, incompetent and defensive," she replied. "It felt... if I'd called 999, no one would've come. I could have had a major wound and no one would've showed. That's how it felt. It felt like they just did not care about my life."

And would she feel comfortable phoning 999 and reporting a crime today, I put to her.

"No," she replied. "And I probably wouldn't. It's not worth it. They don't listen."

Baroness Newlove said she isn't depressed by the findings but disappointed and angry, and desperate to change people's experiences.

She said: "It's clear from the report that too many get left behind, often feeling frustrated and alone."

"We must end the culture where victims rights are regarded as 'optional' extras or 'nice to haves' instead of a core part of delivering justice."

These findings come against a backdrop of worsening crime detection rates, record court backlogs and overflowing prisons.

Victims feel forgotten and say they are systematically being failed.

This report is sounding the alarm for reform and change before even more victims lose faith in the criminal justice system.

Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women & Girls, Jess Phillips said: "This report makes devastating reading.

"It is clear that too many victims of crime have been failed by the criminal justice system. Trust is broken and it is vital the entire system to regains public confidence.

"This government will play a more active role in policing, driving up standards and ensuring that, when something goes wrong, people feel they are listened to and action is taken.

"We will restore neighbourhood policing in every community with 13,000 additional neighbourhood police and Community Support Officers, and give police the powers they need to tackle violent crime and anti-social behaviour.

"We will also hold the system to account, giving the Policing Inspectorate more powers to intervene when forces are failing and bolstering the role of the Victims’ Commissioner to empower victim’s voices."

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