Volunteering for victim support in the courts

I am going into my second year of university and was considering working for victim support in a Crown or Magistrates court for my work placement this year. I know that after my degree I would like to work with re-offernders or something along the social line of work, hopefully one day I can join the police force :smile:

This volunteering basically involves me supporting victims (and/or their families) of crime and helping them manage their emotions. It also requires me to assist with their understand of court procedures.

What do you think of this, will it benefit me in terms of being employable in the future? I want to do this so that I can help people whilst improving and learning new skills :smile:

Reply 1

King Leonidas

PS- I think it involves an initial one week training period and then you must dedicate one day a week to volunteer. I am sure this is manageable for a uni student, if anyone has done this before please let me know how it was :smile:

Reply 2

Hopple

If you want to work with re-offenders, wouldn't it be best to try and get involved with some of those schemes? Working with victims is no bad thing, and would help if you wanted to do that with the police, but it doesn't seem to be what you want to do? :s-smilie:

Reply 3

King Leonidas

Original post by Hopple

I am planning to find work so that I can help re-offenders in the future as well however, I felt it would be approriate to work with the victims before the offenders if you know what I mean. The courts is where it all starts, so I felt it made sense to begin my voluntary work there. I also beleive that you can assist victims as well as the defence side (though I may be wrong.)

Thanks for commenting.

Doesn't anyone have anything else to add? It would be really helpful if someone who has done this could comment :wink:

Applied three weeks ago and no reply, ffs :colonhash:

Reply 8

MonsoonFlower

Original post by pinda.college

Applied three weeks ago and no reply, ffs :colonhash:

I wanted to apply for the courts but they told me that the court times aren't flexible for students (courts don't open on weekends)... :frown:

Although instead they accepted me to support victims :smile:

What are you studying at which university?

Reply 9

cate3110

Heya,
I don't work in the courts, but I do volunteer with Victim Support in the community, which I do really enjoy. However, the training you go on, has a mixture of people volunteering with the Witness Service/ Victims in the Community, I have also had to shadow in the courts before I could get accredited, so know the basics. So any questions let me know?
In all honesty though, it depends on what you want to get out of the experience. Working in the courts, you are there to support the witness throughout their day as it is probably an unfamiliar experience for them. Your role will include things such as explaining the court process, helping with special requirements (e.g. avoiding seeing defendant prior to trial) or arranging pre trial visits; you are NOT allowed to talk about the crime or the case as this may impact on what they give as evidence, and will be thrown out as 'contamination of evidence'. If you want to talk to people about specifics of their case, the community side would be more suitable.

Good luck :biggrin:

P.s.it did take a few weeks to hear anything from them, so I wouldn't overly worry, but it wouldn't harm to send a follow up email, after all you are offering your time.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 10

username949417

I volunteered 'for Victim Support' in my local Magistrates' court, but turned out to be just on a tea bar where the proceeds went to Victim Support! Not as it sounded or what I had in mind at all.

Go for it though, volunteering is great and adds so much stuff to your CV. Perhaps give them a ring to politely ask about your application.