A fundamental rethink is needed, argues Starmer, leading to a specific and legally enforceable victims' law.
Perhaps"we could start by retiring the description 'criminal justice system' and conceive instead of a criminal justice service fit for victims", he concludes.
In the meantime, says the man who led the Crown Prosecution Servicefor five years, there should be "a pause in the oft-repeated mantra that we have the best criminal justice system in the world". Owen Bowcott