Call for restorative justice services in sex crime cases

Sex crime victims should have the chance to face their attackers through restorative justice, rather than relying solely on the "heartbreaking" adversarial system for closure, a report claims.

The study, launched today, is based on the views of 149 research participants, including 30 victims of sexual crime and 23 sex offenders.

It claims that, in addition to causing hurt and anxiety among victims, the current system is so adversarial that it is likely to result in the offender denying that they committed any offence.

Sexual Trauma and Abuse: Restorative and Transformative Possibilities, makes a number of key findings, including:

-Victims and offenders experience “unacceptable and at times debilitating delays in the administration of justice”;

-There are information gaps and deficits regarding the processing of cases, adding to trauma for victims who feel “peripheral” to the criminal proceedings;

-The current system is “adversarial”, and “punitive approaches” taken in public towards those convicted has the effect of offenders denying their offences, and taking the risk of the State proving the case against them.

The report was written by Marie Keenan of the School of Applied Social Science, University College Dublin, in collaboration with restorative justice body Facing Forward.

Among the recommendations is that restorative justice services be made available to victims of sex crime under the forthcoming Cosc National Strategy for 2015 to 2020, and that a three-year pilot project of restorative justice in certain cases be established “as a matter of urgency”.

It also calls for the expansion of support services for the “secondary” victims of sex crimes, such as family members, and that the Government, gardaí and other aspects of the criminal justice system work to reduce the “unacceptable delays” in investigations.

Dr Keenan said she wanted the Government to consider the recommendations and stressed that any restorative justice programmes should run in addition to, rather than as an alternative to, the current criminal and civil systems.

She said there had been an “unwritten promise” that entering the justice system would deliver for victims, but that because of issues such as the delays in cases coming to trial, it had often not done so.

She said restorative justice should always be initiated by the victim, and some victims in the report had said they wanted it available as an option, particularly in cases of abuse within families.

“They want to make a statement,” said Dr Keenan. “They want to face their fears by facing the offender. They want to bring an end to the kind of relational connection [with the perpetrator] they never chose in the first place.”