The Victim of Historical Child Sexual Abuse in the Irish Courts 1999–2006

In recent years, Ireland has been rocked by revelations of historical child sexual abuse. This has led to a variety of state responses but one question remains particularly difficult to answer: why did the sexual abuse of children go unrecognized as a societal problem for so long? This article seeks answers by scrutinizing cases in which defendants sought to have their trial prohibited because of the delayed reporting. It explores the legal test used in the period 1999–2006, which focussed on the abuser’s ‘dominion’ over the victim. The use of the notion of dominion elicited valuable information about the reasons for the delay and how children were silenced. Uncovering these stories is essential to understanding the dynamics of child sexual abuse. However, a critical reading of the delay cases that draws on feminist critiques of battered woman’s syndrome and rape trauma syndrome reveals law’s power to impose hegemonic discourses onto victims and to produce new histories. Under the dominion paradigm, the courts distorted victims’ accounts of their experiences and sidelined stories that pointed towards a culture of indifference to abuse. Thus, law is shown to occupy a paradoxical position in relation to Ireland’s history of child sexual abuse.

SYTUACJA OFIAR PRZESTĘPSTWA ZGWAŁCENIA PO NOWELIZACJI KODEKSU KARNEGO Z DNIA 13 CZERWCA 2013 R.

The Situation of Rape Victims after the Amendment of 13June 2013to the Polish Penal CodeSummaryThe paper describes the situation of rape victims in Poland followingthe amendment of 13 June 2013 to the Polish Penal Code. Under thenew provisions rape is an offence prosecutable in proceedings officiallybrought by the public prosecutor. Hitherto rape charges were brought bythe victim or the victim’s legal guardian. This study concerns the issueof the substantive and procedural legal consequences for the victim whodoes not want to testify because of the particular situation in which he/she has found himself, e.g. rape trauma syndrome or dependence onthe offender.