Victims of crime should be given a more central role in the investigative and judicial process, the National Crime Forum was told.
In a submission, Victim Support said gardai should be required to inform victims on an ongoing basis of the progress being made in criminal investigations.
When an offender was released or escaped from custody, the victim should be told as quickly as possible. "The trauma of victims meeting the perpetrators, who they thought were in prison, can be devastating," the submission said.
It called for victim impact assessments to be used in all courts and all types of cases, not just in respect of sexual and violent crimes.
When an accused pleaded guilty and asked that other crimes be taken into consideration, all the victims concerned should be informed, it added.
It also proposed that pre-trial consultation between victims and prosecution counsel should be allowed. There were no grounds for the accusation that this involved coaching witnesses as it was "merely putting victims at their ease".
The lack of consultation with victims at all stages of the process was a common theme of contributors yesterday.
A west of Ireland woman who said she and her young son had been sexually assaulted said victims should have access to free legal aid and their own solicitors.
"The odds are stacked against the victim from the start, and it is the State which rolls the dice against them," she said.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, representing the Bar Council on the forum, said it was natural for people to feel that the defendant had all the rights. "But it's in the interests of a democratic society that they do have those rights. If we attempt to whittle away those rights we diminish ourselves by those acts."
One of the reasons prosecuting counsel had preferred on occasion to speak only briefly to a victim of crime was to avoid any suggestion of attempting to coach the witness. Considerable efforts were now made to meet the victim in advance, show them the courtroom and tell them a bit about the procedure.
Mr Gageby said it had been suggested that some victims had been shown rudeness and discourtesy by those prosecuting the case. "I have never seen that, and I don't believe it does in fact happen," he said. But he acknowledged that it might have happened in the past.
