Victims in the criminal justice process
The responses of the criminal justice system to victimisation and in particular the operation of the criminal trial retain an enormously symbolic position in the public’s consciousness around criminal victimisation (Kirchengast, Victims and the Criminal Trial. London: Palgrave, 2016). From a cultural perspective then the criminal justice process has enormous significance. The trial itself is the most publicised component of the criminal justice process, and we know the majority of people still base much of their opinion of the justice system on knowledge obtained though media portrayals of it: both fictional and non-fictional accounts (Dowler, Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 10:109–126, 2003). This chapter will turn its attention to the criminal justice process itself, offering an evaluation of substantive changes made to that system since the coming to power of the 2010 coalition government. In so doing, the chapter will highlight the extent to which reforms made in the criminal justice process might reflect the cultural and political contexts outlined in Chaps. 1, 2 and 3.
Where Next? Conclusions and Considerations for the Future of Rape Justice
A summary of the book’s key arguments will follow, but first I note the sense of a Sisyphean struggle for reform, as highlighted by McGlynn (2010), throughout. My findings show evidence of clear improvements on Lees’ (1997) observations, but some problems have also remained stubbornly consistent in the intervening 20 years. For example, barristers and judges now demonstrate awareness of the realities of rape and empathise with survivors, but they retain the sense that survivors are collateral damage in the justice process. Similarly, there have been wide-ranging restrictions on the use of sexual history since Lees’ work, and yet Chap. 4 revealed these restrictions being diluted to the point that they no longer presented any barrier to such evidence. Defence tactics also remain strikingly familiar, with both Lees’ (1997) work and my own observations showing how survivors are placed ‘on trial’ rather than the accused. This is mirrored in New Zealand research by Zydervelt, Zajac, Kaladelfos, and Westera (2016), which found that lawyers’ strategies for cross-examination had barely changed since the 1950s despite social and legal reforms (see also Stern, 2010, on the UK context).
THE VICTIM‐OFFENDER RELATIONSHIP AND CALLING THE POLICE IN ASSAULTS*
The revised National Crime Victimization Survey is used to examine the effects of the victim's relationship to the offender on whether assaults are reported to the police by either the victim or by third parties. The results indicate that the offender-victim relationship affects third-party but not victim reporting. The former effect occurs in part because third parties are unlikely to witness assaults involving people in ongoing relationships, particularly couples, and in part because third parties are reluctant to report minor assaults (i.e., those assaults that involve a threat but no actual attack and no weapon). We discuss possible explanations for why no effect of relationship on victim reporting was found.