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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:13 pm
Time: 8:13 pm
Results for victims of sexual assault, criminal justice system
1 results foundAuthor: Australia. Victims of Crime Coordinator Title: A Rollercoaster Ride: Victims of Sexual Assault: Their Experiences with and Views about the Criminal Justice Process in the ACT 2009 Summary: This report provides information principally derived from two studies involving a number of adults who had experienced a sexual assault and who had reported the incident to police in the ACT. The first component involved qualitative interviews with individual victims of sexual assault to ascertain in depth their views and experiences of the criminal justice process. The second involved the research participants answering questions about procedural fairness using a computer program specifically designed for a larger national research project. The decision to report a sexual assault to police has far reaching implications for the women and girls, men and boys who chose to do so. While any individual person will be influenced by a range of factors in deciding to disclose, or not, those interviewed for this research primarily felt motivated to protect themselves and to protect the community by reporting the incident(s) to police. Victims of sexual assault who participate in the criminal justice process do so with a high degree of ambivalence mixed with a strong sense of responsibility to see justice done. Victims of sexual assault value highly the principles of procedural fairness. They rank highly the principles of honesty, absence of bias, fair and just decision-making, and inclusion. They value being treated with respect, sensitivity and fairness. They value being made to feel safe and being given clear and timely information. How victims of sexual assault experience these principles and values in reality produces a mixed picture in the ACT. Most of those interviewed for this research found the police, prosecutors and victim liaison staff to be supportive and positive. Consequently, they did not consider withdrawing their report. For those who actually appeared in court, the judiciary was experienced as supportive and respectful. Interviewees valued the contact made by victim liaison staff in the justice agencies, and considered the support and counselling provided by the various victim services to be helpful and encouraging. Those victims who appeared in court generally found the experience of defence lawyers to be humiliating and difficult. A range of specific aspects to the criminal justice process were noted by the participants to this research to be unhelpful and discouraging. In particular, comments or behaviour from justice practitioners that was interpreted as lacking in empathy, understanding or belief, inadequate information, insufficient preparation and lack of follow up, not being given opportunities to be involved or to be heard, some counselling support being difficult to access, the length of time the process took and number of adjournments, and media intrusiveness. Perhaps surprisingly, victims interviewed for this report were unanimous that their decision to report to police was right for them and that they would encourage reporting to a friend who was sexually assaulted. One, however, was ambivalent about reporting in the future if she herself was sexually assaulted again. All participants wanted the offender apprehended, charged, convicted and rehabilitated (often in prison) because they wanted to ensure that others were safe. On the question of victim choice and control, all participants in the research project thought the police and prosecutors needed to have the control over the laying of charges and decisions to prosecute. They believed it shouldn’t be about their preference. At the same time, all those interviewed felt that police and prosecutors should ask victims their views, and be supportive and respectful of these in the decision-making process. Similarly, all participants in the research project felt that their views should be taken into account at sentencing but did not feel the decisions about length of sentence and type of punishment should be up to them. They thought the judge should take account of their views and their victim impact statement but that the decision should remain with the judge. A number of matters limit the general applicability of the findings of this research project. These are that only a small number of people provided feedback, the participants were all adult, and a majority of participants not only had the offence committed against them charged and prosecuted, but also the majority had their case result in a plea or finding of guilt. These last two factors are generally atypical in all Australian jurisdictions. Details: Canberra: ACT Government, 2009. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 23, 2012 at: http://www.unb.ca/observ/documents/ARollercoasterRideFINAL.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: http://www.unb.ca/observ/documents/ARollercoasterRideFINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 125741 Keywords: RapeSexual ViolenceVictims of CrimesVictims of Sexual Assault, Criminal Justice System |