Chapter 7 Flashcards
4 key areas of modern victimology
- The prevalence, impact, and needs of victims
- The origins of victimology and international standards
- Policing, victim services, and compensation, courts, and restitution
- How to rebalance the justice system to respect victims’ human rights
Prevalence of victimization
- Data is only collected sporadically every five years through the general social survey
- information does not receive significant attention from criminologists, media or politicians
General Social Survey results
- 25% of Canadians victimized by theft or assault annually
- The overall rate has not changed in 15 years
- Adult victims are more likely to be young (15–24), male, and Aboriginal
- Repeat victimization: 40% of victims reported more than one victimization in the past year
- Victimization concentrated in certain areas, families, and individuals
Rates of victimization in Canada 1988-2009
- sexual assault, physical assault, theft of household property and vandalism have gone up
- robbery has remained pretty constant
- break and enter, motor vehicle theft have gone down
Impact of victimization
- Interpersonal crime will cause victims in Canada $2.5 billion in costs and pain and suffering
- Less than:
- -33% of victims call police to report the crime; this is even lower for sexual assault victims
- -3% of victims will see “their” offender convicted
- Police are unlikely to inform victims of services
- Most eligible victims will not know of or receive restitution or compensation
Impact of victimization (chart)
- cost for victims (billions)
- harm extends to friends and family
- financial loss, injury, emotional pain and trauma
Needs of crime victims (8)
- Right to recognition that they have been harmed
- Right to information: about reparation, services available, CJS processes
- Right to assistance: access to victim services
- Right to reparation: financial recovery, including restitution from the offender and compensation from the state
- Right to be protected from the accused
- Right to participation and representation in the criminal justice process
- Right to effective public policies to reduce victimization
- Right to implementation: there must be a remedy if these rights are not adequately implemented
Origins of victimology (1960s)
pioneering efforts centred on concern for victims, who were largely forgotten
- Advocacy groups (victims of crime demanded policy changes in police and government)
- Victim/witness assistance programs (to encourage victims to come forward to police)
- Rape crisis centres
- Victim offender mediation/restorative justice programs
- Victimization surveys
International movement for victim’s rights (1979?
- world society of victimology formed
Magna Carta for victims (1985)
UN adopted landmark resolution in which signatory nations agreed to:
- Implement basic principle of justice for victims of crime and abuse of power
- Prevent victimization through comprehensive measures
- Goal is to shift justice systems from an offender focus to one that balances offenders with needs of victims
Origins of victim rights policies in Canada 67, 70s, 81, 83
1967: Saskatchewan provided compensation to victims of violent crime
1970s: first monographs on crime victims published
1981: major international conference on assistance to victims of crime in Toronto
1983: federal–provincial task force provided recommendations on justice for victims
This task force criticized for neglecting victim trauma and participation in the CJS
1983 federal-provincial task force recommendations (6)
- gather survey data on numbers of victims
- provide information for victims
- provide services for victims
- provide restitution, compensation and property return
- protect victims from intimidation
- provide victim impact statements to assist with restitution, and hold trials within a reasonable time
Two issues that impeded basic human rights for crime victims in Canada
- Resistance to change within the traditional CJS
Legal bureaucracy is committed to the status quo - Gap between social science researchers & CJS
Legal training has not kept up with social science research
Tensions Between Traditional and Human Rights for Victims 86, 88
1986: Manitoba provides some victim services and uses a victim fine surcharge to help pay for these
1988: federal and provincial governments agree to a statement of principles to adapt UN resolution
- The principles are weaker than the UN document
- Does not create a centre of responsibility to implement them
- The government made promises but did not provide a way for victims to ensure that promises would be kept
Tensions Between Traditional and Human Rights for Victims 2003, 2007, 2013
2003: the provinces, territories, and federal government revised principles on victims rights
- But still did not include effective ways to implement them
- Some modifications to protect the privacy of victims, enable restitution orders in court, and allow victim impact statements
2007: federal government establishes Ombudsman to defend the rights of victims and to bring about systemic change at the federal level
2013: Ombudsman calls for a federal bill of rights for victims
The bill of rights for victims 2014
federal government introduce the Victims Bill of Rights Act to create statutory rights at the federal level for victims of crime: Right to information Right to restitution Right to protection Right to participation Right to complain
Criticism of bill of rights for victims
- Does not state what police must do to provide info to victims
- Does not extend the right to info to help victims access services
- Does not require the offender to provide the court with information about his or her ability to pay restitution
- Does not require parole boards to consider whether the offender has paid restitution
- Onus is on the victim to bring a civil action, which can be complex
- Does not specify how victims will be protected from future victimization
- The right to participation provides for limited input from the victim
Victim services and the police- reporting
- The proportion of victims who report to the police declined from 1999 to 2009, especially for victims of sexual assault
- In part because services and compensation were not available or well known
- Canadian surveys ask why people don’t report to the police, not why they do report
- The latter would get at what victims want: protection, recovery of stolen property, reparation, insurance money
Victim services and the police- victim services
- Only a small minority of victims who report to police will see the offender arrested and convicted
- Police forces in Canada have not focused on victim services in any significant way
- -There is the lack of protocols on how police should respect victim’s rights and respond to their needs
- -Crime victim services units have been set up, but there is great variability and no systematic data on how many are serviced and how effectively
- -Police have failed to improve how they respond to female victims of sexual assault
21st century strategy to enhance police response to victims (7)
- Safety: protection from perpetrators and assistance in avoiding revictimization
- Support: assistance to enable participation in the CJS processes and repair of harm
- Information: Concise and useful information about victims’ rights, CJS processes, and available victim services
- Access: ability to participate in the justice system and have access to support services
- Continuity: consistency in approaches and methods across agencies through all stages of the criminal justice process
- Voice: opportunities to speak out and be heard on case processing issues and larger policy questions
- Justice: receiving the support necessary to heal and seeing that perpetrators are held accountable
Waller: 4 steps for Canadian police to reach international standards
- Improve the proportion of victims reporting to police and assess progress by holding officers accountable for providing information in a timely manner to victims
- Develop and follow protocols to better meet the needs of victims who are women, children, Aboriginal, or disabled
- Develop a timetable to implement the IACP strategy package to make victims a primary concern of law enforcement
- Ensure surveys of victims who report to the police to monitor the extent to which their core needs for information, referral to services, and protection are being met
services for victims of crime
- Medicare in Canada provides free health services for victims of crime, unlike the United States
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is universally recognized as an issue related to victimization
- -But it is not clear how adequate PSTD services are and how they are paid for
- Victim assistance services are expanding in Canada
- -But it is unknown the degree to which victims are aware of these services, the adequacy of these services, or what proportion of victims access them
Statistics Canada survey identified 884 victim service providers in Canada
- 40% in police agencies, 23% in the community, 8% in the courts, 17% sexual assault crisis centres
- More than 3000 paid employees and volunteers
- 400,000 victims served annually, but this represents only 10% of victims
Model programs/London ON (domestic violence)
- Police–social worker teams to respond to family violence
- The police control the situation, the social worker helps the family resolve its problems
- Pioneered a battered wife advocacy clinic, innovations in its court system, and initiatives to prevent violence against women
Model programs/ Burlington ON (sexual assault)
- Nina’s Place provides health care, police services, and agency referrals for sexual assault and domestic violence victims
- Support is available 24/7 whether the survivor has involved the police or not
- Services include physical examination, treatment of injuries, collection and recording of evidence, counselling, pregnancy testing, risk assessment and safety planning, follow-up medical care, and referral to community agencies
Waller: 5 measures
- Increase funding and pay professional salaries for the full range of victim support services
- Develop and implement professional standards for support services along the lines of those in the UK
- Ensure professional care for mental health trauma is available at no cost to the victim
- Schools and universities should teach citizens to provide emotional support to victims of crime
- Conduct surveys to measure the gaps between the core needs of victims and the services provided to them
Restitution, compensation and civil remedies (5)
- An order of restitution made in a criminal court
- A civil suit brought against the perpetrator of the crime
- A civil suit brought against a third party whose negligence may have contributed to the crime
- Restorative justice
- A payment made by a state/provincial compensation board
Human rights for victims in France
- Allows victims to defend interests
- Can voice concern for personal safety
- Can force more thorough investigation
- Can result in criminal court-tied restitution
Stopping re-victimization
- Programs address criminogenic risk factors of children and youth at risk of future criminal offending
- Other successful crime prevention models focus on reducing the risk to potential victims (e.g., car theft or burglary reduction programs)
- There needs to be a shift in resources to pre-emptive strategies that address the causes of criminality and reduce opportunities for crime to take place
Systematic Ways to Shift, Reinvest, andRebalance Justice for Crime Victims
- model legislation
- an independently funded institute.
- social science evaluations
- amendment to charter
Model legislation
Support (recognition, information, and assistance)
Justice (reparation, protection, participation, representation)
Good government (policies to reduce victimization and on implementation)
Independently funded institute
University-based with permanently funding
Independence from legal professionals, researchers, advocacy agencies
Would be a hub for research, education, and observation of policy
Social science evaluations
Initiatives to help victims and ensure their rights (including legislation) aresystematically monitored and evaluated
Amendment to Charter
Charter currently does not include any victims rights
Crime victims need their rights to safety, reparation, and justice to be recognized and enshrined
Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime and the International Organization for Victim Assistance recommend the following: (5)
- National action plan—including standards applied to policing, services, restitution, compensation, prosecution
- A provincial victim advocate, to provide better data and an institute to focus on research and development
- Provincial and municipal prevention strategies to effectively reduce crime and promote community safety
- Permanent funding to be used for prevention, victim services, and rights
- An amendment to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
