The Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Act Guidance
New guidance on Helen's Law sets out information and advice regarding the Board’s duty to consider the non-disclosure of information about victims by prisoners
Applies to England and Wales
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This guidance sets out information and advice regarding the Board’s duty to consider the non-disclosure of information about victims by prisoners. Panels will need to be aware of the legal requirements to take such matters into account when considering parole for cases where one of the two criteria set out in the legislation applies.
Panels already follow existing guidance in relation to cases in which the whereabouts of a victim’s remains have never been disclosed, and the requirement to do so is now set out in law. The new legal requirement also covers information about the identity of children in indecent images. The existing guidance published in 2017 has now been superseded by this current guidance.
Both requirements are now set out in Statute and panels are required to explicitly refer to them in decision letters at Member Case Assessment (MCA) and Oral Hearings, for relevant cases.
The Act places a statutory duty on the Parole Board to consider the non-disclosure of information about victims in its decision-making. The duty applies to cases involving the non-disclosure of information about the whereabouts of a victim’s remains (often referred to as Helen’s Law) and the non-disclosure of information about the identity of child victims in indecent images.
The Act applies to all prisoners who are releasable under the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 serving a sentence for murder or manslaughter; or the Criminal Justice Act 2003 for manslaughter or the taking or making of indecent images. It only applies to initial release and not to re-release following a recall.