Do Multi-Agency Victim Support Services in England and Wales Provide Sufficient Support for Victims of Serious Sexual Offences?
- shaunyates2
- Jul 21
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 31
By Keisha French,
London Metropolitan University.
The primary aim of this research was to investigate whether multi-agency support services offer sufficient support to victims of serious sexual violence in England and Wales. To achieve this, this research study conducted a thematic analysis using quantitative secondary data analysis. The research study starts by evaluating three multi-agency support services in England and Wales; that is, Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs), Sexual Assault Referral Centres’ (SARCs), and Rape Crisis Centre’s (RCCs). The research study analyses their working framework and its effectiveness.
To investigate whether multi-agency support services offer sufficient support, three themes are analysed, that is: criminal justice outcome, immediate response, and long-term support for sexual violence victims.
From thematic analysis, it was discovered that multi-agency support services play a crucial role in helping victims of sexual violence navigate the criminal justice system. Specifically, it was discovered that sexual offence crimes in England and Wales take the longest to get an outcome, which may increase distress to victims of sexual violence. As such, with the help of support services, victims can understand the legal procedure and follow through with the whole process. In addition, it was concluded that multi-agency services offer sufficient support in addressing the immediate help needed by victims of serious sexual offences. This involves offering forensic examination, medical care, and psychological support. Also, it was concluded that multi-agency services offer sufficient support in the long-term recovery of sexual violence victims by offering group counselling, medical check-ups, follow-ups, and forensic examination, evidence preservation.
The research study concludes by offering policy recommendations that may help improve the delivery of support services, such as increasing funding and having a central case management system to help integrate multi-agency communication and reduce the burden of victims having to go through many steps to acquire multi-agency support services.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16266657