‘In a four-day workshop, the psych-educational experience is mixed with creativity, bodywork and even fun.’ Photo: by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
Trials and errors: Tim Newell of Escaping Victimhood looks at a new report
‘Trauma does not respond to the equations of justice.’
Last month’s publication of the report from the Independent Commission into the Experience of Victims and Long-Term Prisoners* has been marked by very little public comment. Its significance in trying to make sense of sentencing for those deeply affected by justice in England and Wales – both victims and offenders – has gone unacknowledged.
The report describes the procedures of justice, which have to follow certain rules to test guilt and assign blame. But its authors realise this also carries unintended – and sometimes extremely negative –consequences for victims. The purpose of the trial process is to determine guilt, not to allow victims to be heard. Victims, however, need to receive some acknowledgement and validation of their loss. Harm experienced by the victim becomes significant later – it can determine how the crime fits into specific categories, and is important in sentencing hearings.
Defendants, however, who are assumed to be innocent, might receive legal advice to say nothing in evidence. They sometimes make shows of bravado or determination if their loved ones and supporters are in court (though the trial is often a traumatic experience for them too). Displays of silence or bravado will seldom satisfy victims, who want accountability and responsibility for the behaviour. This is also likely to be the last time a victim or their family hears from the offender. They will often interpret a defendant’s conduct in court as insulting and disrespectful, leading to more unresolved anger. In many murder and manslaughter cases, the defendant may be known to the family of the victim.
The nature of the process leads victims to feel that they have been stereotyped, and that the full complexity and range of their experience has not been heard. Defendants are strongly incentivised not to make full disclosure. Trials may turn on witness credibility, and the portrait that lawyers paint for the jury. It can be difficult to establish the truth of what happened. Victims thus feel the criminal justice process is uninterested in their case, or their feelings or needs. Trauma does not respond to the equations of justice.
In the trial, the family of the victim has no part to play unless members are called as witnesses. The only formal right is to be able to make an impact statement, which happens when they are called to a sentencing hearing after guilt is established. The victim’s statement may have no effect if there is a mandatory minimum sentence. Victims often feel the law attends to its own needs not theirs. The justice process is to identify and punish offenders, not to offer redress to victims.
Other jurisdictions and systems offer different approaches. These include countries and communities influenced by restorative justice, where the focus is on healing the harm brought about by the crime. Many aboriginal communities have this approach, and it has been instrumental in keeping the community together after a tragedy. Rather than dividing and excluding, it ensures that victims’ needs are met through recognition and validation, affirmation. The perpetrator takes responsibility through some actions to remedy the harm.
Restorative processes are not readily available in our prisons at present. And very few victims are aware that, under the Victims Code – soon to be morphed into law – there is an expectation that victims will be offered the possibility of meeting the offender at some stage of the sentence.
The report says that there may be some place for restorative approaches in sentencing serious crimes and after. There are certainly examples of remarkable work, where the offender accepts responsibility openly, is willing to be accountable for the harm caused, and accepts the likely proposed consequences.
The report recommends that victims have the sentence explained to them. They should be given a copy of the sentence plan, so they know what the offender is being asked to work on while in prison. This way they know that the offending behaviour is being addressed.
When the main elements of the Victims Code are enacted into law, the experience of victims of serious crime will be improved as there will be accountable resources to meet some of their needs. Until this is achieved, many victims will feel abandoned and cheated by the system which cruelly promised closure after the trial. Many have survived through resilience and family support, but for others there is a feeling of being stuck in a vortex of loss, pain, blame, anger and abandonment. It is this feeling of being stuck after trauma that motivates people to apply to come to an Escaping Victimhood (EV) workshop. Escaping Victimhood, a Quaker Recognised Body, has sought to meet the needs of people who have felt abandoned by the justice system and other services. In a four-day workshop, through the provision of a caring community, the psych-educational experience is mixed with creativity, bodywork and even fun. Research** shows that the experience has freed up some of the stickiness, and opened up a new opportunity for post-traumatic growth.
Here are some of the responses to the experience: ‘The EV programme was like an oasis time, and it definitely gave me time to breathe and take time to understand and reflect.’
‘EV saved my life.’
‘Now I know that I’m allowed to have good days. I’m allowed to laugh, I’m allowed to smile, I’m allowed to have a normal life, and therefore since the programme, of course I still think about dad, of course I do, yeah, I’m allowed to be normal. I can go back to being me without feeling guilty.’
Taking people and their experience seriously and placing it into some context has proved liberating for over 350 families so far. Sadly, we know there are many more in need of care in the community.
Footnotes
* https://icevlp.org.uk.
** www.escapingvictimhood.com/downloads/bathresearch.pdf.
