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“I Think It’s Re-Victimizing Victims Almost Every Time”: Police Perceptions of Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Violence

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Abstract

Criminal justice responses to sexual violence have long been critiqued for either failing or further victimizing complainants. The ways that police can be complicit in these shortcomings is well documented, but less is known about how police officers themselves identify and understand the barriers to justice within the criminal justice system. In this article, we use data from 70 semi-structured interviews and two focus groups with sex crime investigators to explore police interpretations of the obstacles to achieving justice in cases of sexual violence. Our findings demonstrate that the majority of officers are critical of the present criminal justice response to sexual violence and are doubtful of its ability to provide a semblance of justice to the majority of victims.

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Notes

  1. Through this article we use the term “victim”, not “survivor”. Throughout our paper, our use of the word victim, rather than survivor is not intended to undermine or ignore the work of feminist or legal scholars, but instead is used to ensure consistency with the language used by our participants.

  2. Throughout the paper we use the term police officer, officer and investigator interchangeably. These terms accurately reflect the roles of those interviewed and contribute to the anonymity of the participants.

  3. Bill C-127 implemented in the 1980s was also criticized (see Hinch 1988).

  4. This project was supported by a SSHRC Insight Development grant and an Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services grant.

  5. We sampled from police organizations in five provinces, including Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia.

  6. We contacted 12 organizations to participate in our study. Ten of these organizations responded to and agreed to our request to be included in our study.

  7. The first focus group was conducted with three members and the second focus group had 8 members. The focus group consisted on 32 questions and focused primarily on the mandate of the unit, collaborations between police officers in the unit, and their experiences with investigating and responding to sex crimes. Follow up interviews were conducted with two members of these focus groups. Focus groups were conducted in cases where there were availability constraints on unit members.

  8. This project was approved by the research ethics board at Carleton University. All participants signed an informed consent form.

  9. Judge Robin Camp received nationwide attention for comments to a sexual assault victim in a sexual assault trial he presided over. Among other statements, Camp asked the alleged rape victim while testifying why she "couldn't just keep [her] knees together" or "sink your bottom" into the bathroom sink to avoid being raped. The Canadian Judicial Council removed Camp from the bench for his statements and handling of the trial.

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Funding

Funded by SSHRC Insight Development Grant competition (2015) and Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (2016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel by Drive, 597 Loeb building, Ottawa, ON, K1S5B6, Canada

    Dale Spencer & Alexa Dodge

  2. Memorial University of Newfoundland, 230 Elizabeth Avenue, St. John’s, NF, Canada

    Rose Ricciardelli

  3. Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, Canada

    Dale Ballucci

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  1. Dale Spencer
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  2. Alexa Dodge
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  3. Rose Ricciardelli
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  4. Dale Ballucci
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Correspondence to Dale Spencer.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research Ethics Clearance

This research received clearance from the Carleton University Research Ethics board (Protocol #: 102701).

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Spencer, D., Dodge, A., Ricciardelli, R. et al. “I Think It’s Re-Victimizing Victims Almost Every Time”: Police Perceptions of Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Violence. Crit Crim 26, 189–209 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-018-9390-2

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