scholarly journals Sexual Assault Case Processing: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassia Spohn
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Status ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Assault Victims ◽  
Sexual Assault Case

One of the goals of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is to end violence against women and girls in all countries. An important component of this goal is ensuring that all crimes of violence against women and girls are taken seriously by the criminal justice system and that police, prosecutors, judges and jurors respond appropriately. However, research detailing how cases of sexual assault proceed in the criminal justice system reveals that this goal remains elusive, both in the United States and elsewhere. The rape reform movement ushered in changes to traditional rape law that were designed to encourage victims to report to the police and to remove barriers to arrest and successful prosecution. However, four decades after this reform, victims are still reluctant to report sexual assaults to the police, and arrest, prosecution and conviction rates for sexual assault cases are shockingly low. Reversing these trends will require policy changes that are designed to counteract the stereotypes and myths underpinning sexual assault and sexual assault victims.

scholarly journals When Privacy is Not Enough: Sexual Assault Complainants, Sexual History Evidence and the Disclosure of Personal Records

1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Gotell
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Sexual History ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Privacy Law ◽  
Canadian Criminal Code ◽  
Assault Victims ◽  
Sexual Assault Case

How can the rights of sexual assault victims be balanced against the rights of the accused in a sexual assault case? Sexual assault remains one of the most under-reported crimes in Canada, largely due to the invasion that results once a sexual assault is reported. Distrust of the criminal justice system continues to deter reporting. Recent amendments to the Canadian Criminal Code aim to protect sexual assault complainants by regulating the introduction of sexual history evidence and third-party records, such as counselling and therapy. However, courts in Canada have increasingly used a standard based on privacy law lo interpret these provisions. Does privacy law serve as a useful framework by which to evaluate this legislation? This article explores the gendered issues of privacy law, challenges the privacy approach to the sexual assault provisions of the Criminal Code, and explores a more balanced alternative.

Cold or Caring? Adolescent Sexual Assault Victims’ Perceptions of Their Interactions With the Police

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 636-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan R. Greeson ◽  
Rebecca Campbell ◽  
Giannina Fehler-Cabral
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Assault Victims ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Adolescent Victims

One-third of sexual assault cases that are reported to the police involve adolescent victims (Snyder, 2000), yet little is known about adolescent victims’ interactions with law enforcement. Through semistructured interviews with 20 adolescent sexual assault victims, this study sought to understand—from the perspectives of the adolescents—how the police interacted with them on an interpersonal level and the impact this had on the adolescents’ emotional well-being and engagement in the criminal justice system. Findings revealed that when the police engaged in behaviors that the victims perceived as caring, compassionate, and personable (vs. behaviors that were perceived as uncaring, insensitive, and intimidating), there was a positive impact on victims’ emotional well-being and criminal justice system engagement. Implications for improving adolescents’ help-seeking experiences are discussed.

Racial Justice and Criminal Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Valls
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Black Neighborhoods

The criminal justice system in the United States both reflects racial inequality in the broader society and contributes to it. The overrepresentation of African Americans among those in prison is a result of both the conditions in poor black neighborhoods and racial bias in the criminal justice system. The American system of criminal justice today is excessively punitive, when compared to previous periods and to other countries, and its harsh treatment disproportionately harms African Americans. In addition, those released from prison face a number of obstacles to housing, employment, and other prerequisites of decent life, and the concentration of prisoners and ex-prisoners in black communities does much to perpetuate racial inequality.

scholarly journals Mercy towards decarceration: Examining the legal constraints on early release from prison

Incarceration ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 263266632097780
Author(s):  
Alexandra Cox ◽  
Dwayne Betts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Family Members ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Release ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
Release From Prison

There are close to seven million people under correctional supervision in the United States, both in prison and in the community. The US criminal justice system is widely regarded as an inherently unmerciful institution by scholars and policymakers but also by people who have spent time in prison and their family members; it is deeply punitive, racist, expansive and damaging in its reach. In this article, we probe the meanings of mercy for the institution of parole.

Public Intoxication and Criminal Justice

1975 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 220-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. George Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
Survey Questionnaire ◽  
Modest Increase ◽  
The Status ◽  
The 1960S

Since the mid 1930's there has been an accelerating growth in understanding the nature and scope of alcohol abuse, and a modest increase in resources to combat it. Although, as early as 1869, a significant court decision held that alcoholism could be viewed as an illness, It was not until the second half of the 1960s that the next such findings, this time by Federal courts, set the course of continuing action to take alcoholism out of the criminal justice system and place it under the aegis of health care. The status of alcoholism legislation in thirty-eight states is examined, based on their resonse to a survey questionnaire and other data provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Alternate treatment systems, developed and tested by the Ontario Addictions Foundation, provide background to the treatment systems which have emerged in most states which have decriminalized public intoxication.

Seeing Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Angela Bock
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
The Way

Seeing Justice examines the way criminal justice in the United States is presented in visual media by focusing on the grounded practices of visual journalists in relationship with law enforcement. The book extends the concept of embodied gatekeeping, the corporeal and discursive practices connected to controlling visual media production and the complex ways social actors struggle over the construction of visual messages. Based on research that includes participant observation, extended interviews, and critical discourse analysis, the book provides a detailed examination of the way these practices shape media constructions and the way digitization is altering the relationships between media, citizens, and the criminal justice system. The project looks at contemporary cases that made the headlines through a theoretical lens based on the work of Michel Foucault, Walter Fisher, Stuart Hall, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Nick Couldry, and Roland Barthes. Its cases reveal the way powerful interests are able to shape representations of justice in ways that serve their purposes, occasionally at the expense of marginalized groups. Based on cases ranging from the last US public hanging to the proliferation of “Karen-shaming” videos, this monograph offers three observations. First, visual journalism’s physicality increases its reliance on those in power, making it easy for officials in the criminal justice system to shape its image. Second, image indexicality, even while it is subject to narrative negation, remains an essential affordance in the public sphere. Finally, participation in this visual public sphere must be considered as an essential human capability if not a human right.

Murder and Maugham: A Neglected Subversive?

2002 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 330-339
Author(s):  
Keith Soothill
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Short Stories ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Serious Crime ◽  
The Status

Somerset Maugham's writings had huge audiences in the first half of the twentieth century. In much of his work the focus is on people behaving badly. What effect did his work have on his readers? This article examines his short stories, of which approximately one-fifth of the major ones have murder as their theme. Focusing on the murders that Maugham ‘creates’, the claim is that Maugham is subversive, challenging some readily made assumptions. In Maugham's scheme of things, the criminal justice system is usually inappropriate, irrelevant or produces injustice, with ‘rough justice’ usually the best that is on offer. The resourceful can get away with murder. Murder is not the most serious crime for many. Instinct rather than rationality is the best judge. Maugham also emphasises the importance of fate, thus implying we are not in control of our destinies. The article argues that popular authors, such as Maugham, may have contributed much more than is generally recognised to the developing unease about the ‘status quo’ that ultimately led to the landslide victory of the Labour government in 1945.

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