“It’s Like Standing on a Beach,Holding Your Children’s Hands,and Having a Tsunami Just Coming Towards You”: Intimate Partner Violence and “Expert” Assessments in Australian Family Law

The ways in which postseparation parenting disputes are managed has undergone significant change in Australia since the Family Law Act (Cth) was first enacted in 1975. The best interests of children have always been paramount in children’s cases and over the last 20 years, this concept has been legislatively shaped to include ongoing beneficial post separation parental relationships and protection from harm. A critical piece of evidence to inform a Family Court’s decision making in such matters is a family report, which is an expert assessment compiled by a social science professional. The authors report findings from an Australian based qualitative study exploring the experiences of family report assessment practice from the perspective of victim mothers who have separated from men who perpetrate intimate partner violence. The authors conclude that reforms are necessary to improve the practice and procedure of family report writing in Australia. Such reforms should ensure that the lived experience of victims of intimate partner violence is validated, assessment processes have victim efficacy, and the outcomes of such reports do not put women and their children at ongoing risk of harm.     

The Victims’ Directive and What Victims Want From Restorative Justice

Following fierce campaigning by victims’ groups, the European Commission has entered into a process of legislative and policy reforms with the aim of repositioning the victim in criminal proceedings. By November 2015, member states will need to have demonstrated that they have modified their domestic laws to give effect to the Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support, and protection of victims of crime. For the first time, restorative justice is explicitly regulated at EU legal level, as the Directive aims to establish a baseline for its safe implementation across member states. With this EU-wide policy backdrop and using original data, the article posits evidence-based recommendations for the implementation of the Directive. The research was carried out in 2013–14 as part of the “Restorative Justice in Europe” project co-financed by the European Commission. The research took place in the United Kingdom and combined desk research and qualitative research strategies with victims, while it triangulated its findings with follow-up surveys with offenders and professionals.     

Juvenile Court Practitioners’ Construction of and Response to Sex Trafficking of Justice System Involved Girls

The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a growing domestic health and policy concern. Exploited girls may be at heightened risk for entering the juvenile justice system. The purpose of this study was to explore the needs of CSEC victims and resources available for system-involved girls. The data from this study included semistructured interviews, case discussions, and residential placement meeting observations with juvenile justice personnel. Findings revealed labeling issues related to (1) how court workers construct female victims of CSEC through exploitation myths, (2) the importance of trauma history and relational contexts, and (3) system-level barriers. Recommendations for practice are discussed.     

Crime Victimization: Assessing Differences Between Violent and Nonviolent Experiences

Experiencing a criminal victimization is among one of the most stressful human experiences. A cross-sectional study of victims of violent crime and victims of nonviolent crime suggests that there are statistically significant differences in experiences in the initial aftermath of the crime event and a few common effects. This article describes the common effects that are associated with criminal victimization in the context of intense distress and discusses the theoretical implications of well-being in the coping process. One hundred seventy-five victims of violent or nonviolent crime were interviewed. Implications for social work practice and theory and future research are delineated.     

SANE/SART Services for Sexual Assault Victims: Policy Implications

A study of 530 sexual assault cases from three jurisdictions tested the efficacy of sexual assault nurse examiner/sexual assault response team (SANE/SART) programs as a tool in the criminal justice system. Policy implications from the findings recommend a SANE training curriculum for the rape examination and biological evidence collection; SANE/SART programs for a multidisciplinary effort in the investigation and prosecution of cases, alternative disposition for cases whereby the victim and offender know each other, and a risk management plan for combating recidivism.     

The “Independent Variable” in Restorative Justice: Theory-Based Standards for Evaluating the Impact and Integrity of Victim Sensitive Process (Part II)

For almost two decades restorative justice practices have demonstrated positive impacts on crime victim satisfaction when compared to court and other adversarial processes. Although these practices have by no means addressed the myriad needs of crime victims, researchers and policy makers have puzzled about how to interpret these generally positive findings. We suggest that remaining difficulties in concluding that positive findings are a result of restorative process rather than some other factor (e.g., procedural justice) are due largely to (1) the lack of clear standards for gauging the integrity, or “restorativeness,” of interventions and (2) the failure to articulate logical mechanisms (i.e., intervention theories) that connect practices to immediate and intermediate outcomes, and these outcomes to long-term changes in the well-being of victims, offenders, and communities. In part 1 of a two-part discussion previously published in this journal, we described alternative definitions of restorative justice and outlined three core principles that provide a useful normative theory of restorative justice. In part 2, we focus on the “intervening variable” in restorative justice, utilizing qualitative data from a national case study to illustrate some potential immediate and intermediate outcomes of restorative justice practice on victims. We also discuss the implications of these outcomes for intervention theory and future research.     

The Spiritual Components of Restorative Justice

The concept of spirituality in restorative justice practice is recognized as important but is often fuzzy and vaguely understood. This study did a content analysis of restorative justice texts and found nine distinct components of spirituality: transformation, connectedness/belonging, common human bond, repentance, forgiveness, making right a wrong, balance/harmony, rituals, and unexplained spiritual phenomenon. The conceptual clarification of the relationship between spirituality and restorative justice gives mediators/facilitators of restorative justice dialogue more tools to deepen their interactions with victims, offenders, and community members. Furthermore, delineation of these nine components offers researchers a framework for the development of instruments or tools that can be used to assess participants' experiences in restorative justice dialogues.     

Reasons for Victims’ Nonreporting Practices in Lagos,Nigeria: A Qualitative Study

Nonreporting practices have significant effects on public safety, yet the scientific community knows little about the reasons that predispose victims towards nonreporting in Lagos, Nigeria. The author examined the reasons using qualitative methods, and used a purposive sampling technique to select participants. Data were content analyzed. The findings indicated that economic and sociocultural considerations account for nonreporting among victims. The study concluded that numerous economic and sociocultural reasons including poverty, police extortion, and taboos explain nonreporting among victims, and suggests that the government should strengthen families and schools to transmit reporting values to children for safer communities in Lagos, Nigeria.     

“TO ME ITS [SIC] REAL LIFE”: Secondary Victims of Homicide in Newer Media

This article explores what happened when two people personally affected by a 1999 homicide participated in an online forum in which the homicide was being discussed. The two individuals in question were the younger brother of the victim and the elder brother of the man convicted of her murder. The case had been the subject of a 12-part audio podcast called Serial. An online forum—the Serial Subreddit—had been set up independently of the podcast and its producers as a space for listeners to discuss their views on the case. We analyzed the contributions of the two aforementioned individuals and the responses they received. We argue that new media spaces like the Serial Subreddit break down the traditional barriers between those personally affected by homicide and consumers of mediated representations of homicide. As such, they raise important questions for criminologists.     

Trafficking of Ethiopian women to Europe – making choices,taking risks,and implications

ABSTRACT

This piece focuses on the Ethiopian women victims of trafficking – the agency of these women in the whole trafficking process, and issues of choice – ‘trying a chance’, or just taking a risk to get out of poverty or difficult social circumstances, considering that they are lured, tricked, coerced, or even forced into the hands of traffickers by a wide range of circumstances and people, including family and friends. Traffickers target girls with economic, social, and family problems. Most of the trafficking of women and girls from Ethiopia is carried out through the use of service ‘agencies’ and human smugglers who facilitate the process of migration through a number of routes. Many of those who use the ‘desert route’ often begin from Sudan to North Africa from where they cross to Europe. The data for this contribution were generated in a study – ‘Captured in Flight: Experiences of violence among African women in Sweden’ – funded by the Swedish crime prevention agency (Brottsoffermyndgheten). The research for the project has been carried out in Sweden, but the women whose case studies are presented here have been in the Middle East, Turkey, Italy, Finland, and Greece before coming to Sweden.     

Does Recent Victimization Impact Confidence in the Criminal Justice System?

This study assesses whether recent victimization influences one’s confidence in the criminal justice system. Specifically, the study tests whether the predictors of confidence in major types of actors in the justice system are different for victims and nonvictims. British Crime Survey (BCS) data are analyzed using a series of structural equation models with multiple group methods. Overall, the findings support the idea that there is little difference between victims and nonvictims in how views of legal actors predict overall confidence. Additionally, prosecutors are slightly more influential on system confidence, regardless of victimization experience. Policy implications and future research directions are discussed.