Reporting & investigation process

If you agree, police can help you get support from people who are trained to help victims of crime. Police will usually send your details to a service called Supportlink, who will choose the right support service for you. The Victims of Crime team may also contact you to offer help. The support service will contact you directly, and police will not know what you talk about.

Police can also tell you about other helpful services. If you say no at first but change your mind later, you can tell the police at any time. It is never too late to get support.

If the police investigate a crime, they might ask you to give a statement, which is your side of the story. Police need your permission, or your parent’s or guardian’s permission, before taking your statement. Your statement can be written down, audio recorded, or video recorded.

When you give a statement, you promise that what you say is true and that you would say the same thing in court if needed. It is very important to be honest, because it is against the law to tell police something you know is not true.

Not every police investigation goes to court. This does not mean police don’t believe you. It just means there is not enough evidence right now to take the case to court. If this happens, police will talk to you and explain why. If new information or evidence is found later, police can start the investigation again or update the report.

Some crimes also have time limits, which means they must go to court within a certain amount of time. Police can explain if a time limit applies to your case.

If police have enough evidence, they decide how to make the person accused go to court. Police can do this in different ways.

• Police might arrest the person if they think the person will not come to court on their own or might keep committing crimes.
• Police might give the person a summons, which is a letter telling them when they must go to court. This can take some time.
• Police might give a Court Attendance Notice (CAN), which also tells the person when to go to court and can be given straight away.
• For some offences, police might give a fine called a Criminal Infringement Notice (CIN). If the fine is not paid, the person may have to go to court.
• For traffic offences, police might give a Traffic Infringement Notice (TIN). If it is not paid, the person may have to go to court.

Sometimes police do not charge a person with a crime. Instead, they may give them a criminal caution, which is a serious warning. This usually happens if it is the person’s first offence, the situation is not very serious, and police think the problem can be fixed without going to court. Police may also believe support from family or other services will help the person do better.

Another way police can deal with a problem is through Restorative Justice. This is a process where people talk about what happened and try to repair harm instead of going to court.

If a person is given bail, it means they are allowed to go home instead of staying in custody. They must promise to go to court on a certain day. They may also have to follow rules, like checking in at a police station or staying away from certain people or places.

If police arrest someone, they might still give them bail at the Watch House and release them until their court date, which could be weeks or months later. If police do not give bail, the person stays in custody and goes to court as soon as possible, usually within one or two days. The person can then ask the court if they can have bail.

A lawyer called a Prosecutor speaks to the court for the police. The court then decides if the person accused can have bail and what rules they must follow. Victims will be told about important bail rules, especially in family violence cases.

If the person accused breaks the bail rules, police can arrest them again and take them back to court. The court may change their bail rules or make them stay in custody. If you know the person has broken their bail conditions, you should tell the police.

When the person accused goes to court, they must say whether they plead guilty, not guilty, or request an adjournment.

• Guilty means they admit they did it. The court then decides the punishment. If this happens, the victim can write a Victim Impact Statement to tell the court how the crime affected them.
• Not guilty means they do not agree they did it or believe it was not their fault. The court will then plan another day to hear the case.
• Request an adjournment means they do not enter a plea at that time. If the court is happy with their reason for the request, the court will then plan another day to hear their plea.

If the person pleads not guilty, police collect all the evidence and prepare it for court. If police have not yet taken your statement, they will ask you and other witnesses to give one.

Most court cases are heard in the Magistrates Court, but very serious cases go to the Supreme Court. Victims may need to go to court and tell what happened as part of the case. You might have to do this more than once.

In court, you can be asked questions by the Prosecutor, and the accused person’s lawyer. A case might go to court again if the jury cannot decide, if something goes wrong during the trial, or if someone appeals the decision and the case must be heard again.

Talking in court about what happened can be hard and upsetting. To help, you may be able to give your evidence from a different room, have a support animal, or use other supports to make it easier. If you think these would help, you can talk to the police or the Prosecutor (ACT DPP), and they can ask for this help for you. The court decides if these supports can be used.

You can also get support services before, during, or after going to court. Police can help you get this support. The Prosecutor must keep you informed about important events in the court case. At the end of the hearing, the court decides if there is enough evidence to say the person accused is guilty or not guilty.

For a court to say someone is guilty, the Prosecutor (ACT DPP) must show there is very strong proof that the person committed the crime and that any excuses they give are not true. This is called proof beyond reasonable doubt, which means the court must be almost sure, even though tiny doubts can still exist.

The Prosecutor uses evidence from police and from witnesses, including you, to do this. The person accused only needs to show their excuse is more likely true than not. Police and the Prosecutor will work with you to try to get the best possible result.

If the court decides the person is guilty, the court then decides what punishment they will get. The victim can write a Victim Impact Statement to explain how the crime affected them, and the court may think about this when deciding the punishment.

The court might send the person to jail, or decide they are guilty but do not send them to jail. Being found guilty usually means the person gets a criminal record, but sometimes the court decides not to write it on their record. The court can also give the person a fine, or place them on special orders where they must behave well and follow rules. If they break these rules, they could go to jail. The court can choose one punishment or use a mix of different punishments.

After someone is found guilty of a crime, the Court decides their punishment. At this time, you will be given the option to provide a Victim Impact Statement.

A VIS lets you tell the Judge how the crime has affected you and your life. You do not explain what happened - only how it made you feel and what changed for you.

Writing a VIS is your choice. It can only be used for serious crimes that can lead to more than one year in prison.

When you write a Victim Impact Statement, you do not need to explain the crime again because the court already knows what happened. You should not say what punishment you think the person should get, use rude or threatening words, or talk about other crimes that happened to you. It is best to focus on how this crime affected you, like how it made you feel or what changed in your life.

If the Prosecutor (ACT DPP) is worried about anything you write, they will tell you. You should try to give your statement to them about a week before the court decides the punishment.

Your statement can be short or long, and you can write it in any way you like. You can also change it or take it back at any time before it is given to the court.