Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
National
Alex Mitchell

Crime victims' rights, safety boosted in law tweaks

Police officer Sergeant Samantha Barlow was bashed and left for dead in 2009. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

Victims of crime will be given the chance to receive notifications about their offenders progress through the custodial system in a tweak backed by prominent advocates.

Laws mandating a victim receive information about their rights to sign up as a registered victim-survivor and receive the critical information about perpetrators will hit NSW parliament on Tuesday.

Premier Chris Minns foreshadowed the move in November, when a drug addict who bashed a police officer with a brick and left her for dead in 2009 was released from prison despite being deemed a high risk of re-offending.

ANZAC DAY SYDNEY
"It's a big shake up in NSW, it's long overdue," Premier Chris Minns says of the law tweak. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

The officer-then-sergeant Samantha Barlow - only learned the perpetrator would be released days before he was freed.

"Sam (Barlow) and Howard Brown and other victims of crime advocates are supportive of these changes," the premier told 2GB.

"It's a big shake up in NSW, it's long overdue, and we're grateful Sam Barlow had enough courage and conviction to ... relive an absolute trauma to get a change to the law."

Notifications a victim-survivor receives include details about the offender's location, their sentence, parole eligibility and other things affecting their safety.

Victim-survivors are often able to make a submission relating to an offender's suitability for parole.

Victims advocate Howard Brown welcomed the changes and said they would help those affected move on with their lives.

"The victims registers are able to provide the kind of information that victim-survivors may feel that they need to be able to take back control of their lives, sometimes many years after a serious crime has been committed against them," he said.

"Maximising free and full access to such a vital resource like the victims registers is a major step toward healing for victim-survivors."

Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said the tweaks balanced the safety implications for victims with the need for them to not to be retraumatised.

"These reforms are about ensuring that victim-survivors of serious crimes know about the victims registers and have a clear opportunity to sign up and benefit from being registered," he said.

The mandatory notifications are expected to be for families of murder victims, those where an offender is serving a life sentence, and for victims of serious offences like attempted murder, sexual assault and abduction.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.