Kenny, Catriona (2022) “The Clumsy Blunt Instrument That is the Criminal Justice System”: Secondary Victimisation, Therapeutic Jurisprudence & the Potential of Legal System Victim Impact Statements as a Tool for Irish Criminal Justice Reform. Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.

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Abstract

Secondary victimisation, in which criminal justice processes, professionals, and agencies retraumatise victims of crime, is widely recognised in the empirical criminal justice literature. This literature suggests that secondary victimisation occurs within Ireland. However, there has been virtually no empirical research examining the scale or nature of this issue within Irish criminal justice. This thesis posits that therapeutic jurisprudence offers a useful and novel theoretical framework within which to consider this issue, as well as a new practical tool which may help address the harms that arise from secondary victimisation: a Legal System Victim Impact Statement. To that end, the objectives of this research were to : 1) address this deficit in the Irish criminal justice literature by determining the extent and nature of secondary victimisation for victims of all crime types; and 2) critically evaluate the ability of a Legal System Victim Impact Statement to identify the therapeutic and antitherapeutic properties of the Irish legal system and inform criminal justice reform. Adopting a mixed methods approach, this was achieved by conducting semi-structured interviews and digital surveys with individuals who work directly with victims of crime through various victim support organisations. Secondary data analysis was also employed for evaluation of the Legal System Victim Impact Statement. The results of this research support the hypothesis that victims of crime in the Irish criminal justice system are subjected to secondary victimisation by criminal justice processes, professionals, and agencies. The Legal System Victim Impact Statement was regarded positively by most participants as a potential tool of criminal justice reform, but important logistical and design limitations were raised by others. These limitations are addressed with recommendations as how best to mitigate them. This research concludes by placing an onus on agencies of the State to think creatively about reducing secondary victimisation for a vulnerable cohort within criminal justice, recommending the Legal System Victim Impact Statement as a manner by which this may be achieved.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Additional Information:	A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Keywords:	Clumsy Blunt Instrument; Criminal Justice System; Secondary Victimisation; Therapeutic Jurisprudence; Potential; Legal System Victim Impact Statements; Irish Criminal Justice Reform; Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Law
Item ID:	19131
Depositing User:	IR eTheses
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2024 11:46
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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