1) Member States shall ensure that victims receive a timely and individual assessment, in accordance with national procedures an individual needs assessment process is in place to identify and meet the specific protection needs of victims throughout the proceedings, and to determine whether and to what extent they would benefit from special protection measures in the course of criminal proceedings, as provided for under Articles 33 23 and 34 24, due to their particular vulnerability to secondary and repeat victimisation, to intimidation and to retaliation.

2) The individual assessment process shall be initiated upon the first contact of the victim with the competent authorities and shall last as long as necessary depending on the specific needs of each victim. Competent authorities shall update the individual assessment at regular intervals to ensure support and protection measures relate to the victim’s changing situation. If the elements that form the basis of the individual assessment have changed significantly, Member States shall ensure that it is updated throughout the criminal proceedings.

3) Member States shall ensure that the individual needs assessment process includes basic, extensive and specialist assessments best suited to address the particular circumstances of the victim, the crime and where the competent authority makes contact with the victim.

4) Member States shall ensure that the individual needs assessment process is coordinated between relevant justice and law enforcement authorities working with victims and responsible for the adoption of protection measures. Member States shall take measures to ensure cooperation with other involved services, including victim support organisations, throughout the assessment process.

5) The individual assessment process shall, in particular, take into account:

a) the personal characteristics of the victim, including relevant experiences of discrimination, also when based on a combination of several grounds such as sex, gender, age, disability, religion or belief, language, racial, social or ethnic origin, sexual orientation;

b) the type or nature of the crime;

c) the circumstances of the crime.

d) the relationship to and the characteristics of the offender.

6) In the context of the individual assessment, particular attention shall be paid to:

a) victims who have suffered considerable harm due to the severity of the crime;

b) victims who have suffered a crime committed with a bias or discriminatory motive which could, in particular, be related to their personal characteristics;

c) victims whose relationship to and dependence on the offender make them particularly vulnerable.

In this regard, victims of terrorism, organised crime, human trafficking, gender-based violence, including violence against women and domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual violence, exploitation or hate crime, victims of core international crime and victims with disabilities shall be duly considered. Particular attention shall be paid to victims who fall under more than one of those categories.

7) In the context of the individual assessment, particular attention shall be paid to the risk emanating from the offender, including the risk of violent behaviour and of bodily harm, the use of weapons, involvement in a group of organised crime, drug or alcohol abuse, child abuse, mental health issues, behaviour of stalking, expression of threats or hate speech.

8) For the purposes of this Directive, child victims shall be presumed to have specific protection needs due to their vulnerability to secondary and repeat victimisation, to intimidation and to retaliation. To determine whether and to what extent they would benefit from special measures as provided for under Articles 33 23 and 34 24, child victims shall be subject to an individual assessment as provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article. The individual assessment of child victims shall be organised within the framework of targeted and integrated support services referred to in Article 9a 10.

9) The extent of the individual assessment may be adapted according to the severity of the crime and the degree of apparent harm suffered by the victim.

10) Individual assessments shall be carried out with the close involvement of the victim and shall take into account their wishes including where they do not wish to benefit from special protection measures as provided for in Articles 9a 10, 33 23 and 34 24.

If the elements that form the basis of the individual assessment have changed significantly, Member States shall ensure that it is updated throughout the criminal proceedings.

The Commission has recognised several problems with the implementation of the needs assessment. Specifically, Member States have largely failed to ensure that all victims receive a thorough and meaningful assessment designed to identify and monitor risks throughout criminal proceedings and to promptly put in place necessary protection measures for those who need them.

The Commission has made a series of proposals, which VSE generally supports, to address these issues. Importantly, the Commission has laid out detailed rules on the application of the assessment, to ensure it is carried out on a regular basis and to take into account a minimum set of factors.

Nevertheless, by combining the support and protection needs assessments, VSE has strong concerns that many victims are at an elevated risk of being denied access to support services.

VSE appreciates the Commission’s recognition of the importance of a support needs assessment and agrees with the general concept. However, as currently drafted, it appears that or risks that police authorities will be relied on to carry out a single support needs assessment to determine whether victims are referred to external support services.

Evidence clearly shows that organisations specialised in supporting victims, rather than police authorities, should carry out wide-ranging support assessments, whilst a mandatory, direct referral of victims from competent authorities to such services is an essential best practice and maximises victims’ access to support. Requiring police authorities to carry out such assessments not only risks overburdening them but, in many cases, will result in inadequate assessments being carried out by unqualified personnel.

VSE believes it is essential that all victims are referred to independent support services, whose trained staff will carry out a support needs assessment. Nevertheless, VSE also recognises that other competent authorities play an important role in assisting victims within the context of criminal proceedings and the scope of their activities, e.g. provision of information by a prosecutor to the victim is a form of support. To ensure such authorities have a clear understanding of how they may best support victims, a needs assessment for this purpose is proposed. Whenever an authority identifies support needs they cannot address, they should co-ordinate with generic and specialist support services.