Referral system needed for victims of crime

Press, 3 April 1987, Page 2

Referral system needed for victims of crime

By

CHRIS MOORE

A referral system should be established to provide immediate, efficient and practical help for the victims of crime and violence, the chairman of the Ministerial Committee of Inquiry into Violence, Sir Clinton Roper, told a seminar in Christchurch yesterday. “A sense of rejection, apparent uninterest by authorities or a lack of understanding of their ixjsition could make the ultimate rehabilitation of the victim more difficult,” Sir Clinton told the discussion and workshops on the victims of anonymous crime and violence. The seminar was organised by the Canterbury Association for Mental Health and the Canterbury Hospital Board’s Community Mental Health Service and was attended by health workers, social workers, add victims. “In my 17 years as a High Court judge, I do not know whether I ever considered victims as victims in a comprehensive way,” Sir Clinton said. “To me, they were witnesses. Information on their position was not always available when I requested it while sentencing the defendant. The judicial system is not geared to supply it.”

There was international

concern about the position facing victims of crime “and their ritual place in the judicial system,” he said.

“This concern is now world wide. I am surprised that it has taken so long to emerge.” Although the Accident Compensation Corporation provided some form of compensation for the victims of violent crime, many individuals were ignorant of their rights under the scheme.

Few rape victims claimed compensation, and while a woman could obtain a non-molestation order, a court reparation order was often a fruitless

exercise. Sir Clinton described the establishment of rape crisis centres and women’s refuges as the single most important development in establishing a system of assistance for victims. He believed that a victim’s needs fell into two categories — an involvement in the judicial process and the need to meet the individual emotional and psychological needs. “The only official recognition of the victim is that of a witness. The Victims Rights Bill, if adopted, will help to redress the situation. There have been other suggestions — the preparation of a victim impact report by a probation officer, the opportunity for a victim to give his or her views on the offender, and some involvement in the bail process. “Beyond that, the Committee on Violence saw no scope for involvement by victims in the judicial process. There was some suggestion that they should have an independent right of appeal against the sentence but the committee did not agree with that suggestion. “In my opinion the emotional and psychological needs of the victim must be met from the earliest possible moment,

not delayed until the judicial process has ground to a conclusion.

. “There are three questions to be asked — what are the needs of the victim, are services available to help them, and how do we inform victims that these exist?” Sir Clinton said. '

The police were often the first contact the victim had with the judicial system.

“That is the time for effective assistance to begin. But it is too much of a burden to place on the police alone. Perhaps there should be a victim referral service ... assistance which would call for a measure of crisis intervention training.” Sir Clinton supported moves by the Auckland C. 1.8. to produce a brochure directing victims to the various available support services. But he warned that rationalisation of these agencies was needed to avoid duplication and a piecemeal approach to providing assistance.

The Committee on Violence received more than 200 written submissions, 1600 newspaper coupons, and a 2000-signature petition on a question which ultimately proved to be one of the most important aspects of its inquiry.