Case Study: Witness and Victim Experience Survey (WAVES)

WAVES is the only survey which examines victims' and witnesses' experiences of the Criminal Justice System on a national level.  A major quarterly telephone survey, we manage WAVES on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.  We have managed the survey since its inception in 2005, recently re-winning the contract for 2009-2011, and have carried out over 120,000 interviews to date. 

Aims and objectives

At both a national and local level, improving the experience of victims and witnesses is a key priority for the government.  The 2007 PSA targets reflect this emphasis, aiming to ‘deliver a better standard of customer service that meets the needs of victims and witnesses and delivers improvement in both victim satisfaction with the police and victim and witness satisfaction with the CJS’. 

WAVES provides robust measures of progress in respect of key policy initiatives relevant to victim and witnesses satisfaction with the CJS, including priorities laid down in the national Victim and Witness Delivery Plan, the implementation of obligations set out in the Victims’ Code of Practice, and the performance of No Witness No Justice Witness Care Units.  Published WAVES data is accessible via the box on the right.

Delivering the WAVES survey

WAVES interviews victims and witnesses in cases which have closed and which resulted in a charge.  Samples are provided direct from Local Criminal Justice Boards - we liaise closely with all 42 Local Criminal Justice Boards across England and Wales to ensure that samples are of the highest quality and eligibility.

The WAVES questionnaire covers all aspects of victims' and witnesses' contact with the CJS, from giving an initial witness statement, through experiences at court, to support after the case is complete.  We interview approximately 100 victims and 100 witnesses per quarter in each of the 42 Local Criminal Justice Board areas across England and Wales (the target is higher in selected areas) - we achieve approximately 35,000 interviews per year in total.  Interviews are carried out by computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).

We have designed a number of bespoke solutions to ensure that WAVES runs efficiently, and that all aspects of the project benefit from our latest thinking.  Some examples include:

• Automated reporting procedures: Setting up automated reporting procedures allows us to produce separate reports quickly, accurately, and cost effectively for each of the 42 Local Criminal Justice Boards across England and Wales
• Interactive SPSS video tutorials: To help Local Criminal Justice Boards make the most of their WAVES data, we have created a series of interactive SPSS video tutorials tailored to WAVES SPSS datafiles.
• State of the art data protection procedures: These include the use of a secure ‘virtual PC' (accessible only by key WAVES researchers, with the ability to transfer data onto USB sticks or other removable media disabled); the printing of advance letters carried out by a secure printing facility; and electronic sample files shredded using Blancco (Ministry of Defence-approved electronic shredding software).