Rising Waves of Feminism or Faltering Steps of Criminal Justice – What Plagues India?

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-236
Author(s):  
Dipa Dube ◽  
Ankita Chakraborty
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
The Face ◽  
Abuse Of Women ◽  
Ongoing Concern

AbstractIn the recent past, the #MeToo movement has shaken India. A docket of high-flying names, from politicians to celebrities and journalists, have come under scrutiny for alleged sexual abuse of women. Flagged by a Bollywood actress, the #MeToo campaign in India ignited feminists, academicians, and policymakers to re-examine women’s continued abuse in all sections of society. Despite a stringent legal regime enforced after the Nirbhaya tragedy, the abuse of women continues unabated. Feminists opine that violence against women remains an ongoing concern that is heightened in the face of a waning criminal justice system that fails to address their plight. Lack of confidence in the system discourages women from approaching the authorities, something palpable in #MeToo allegations, where women preferred to remain silent in the face of inevitable backlash from society, lack of support and cooperation from police and prosecution and finally, courts, where the victim is positioned as the accused to respond to questions of how and why? This article examines the #MeToo movement against the rising crime graph’s backdrop and the criminal justice system’s consequent failure to respond to the same.

scholarly journals Me Too? The Invisible Older Victims of Sexual Violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
Ruthy Lowenstein Lazar
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Elder Abuse ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Legal Research

A review of legal research on violence against women and elder abuse reveals a disturbing picture. There is hardly any American legal research examining sexual abuse of older women and its conceptualization in legal literature and treatment in the legal system. This Article attempts to fill the abovementioned gap and to bring the hidden issue of sexual violence against older women to light. Scholars writing on rape, violence against women, and elder abuse tend to analyze age and gendered sexual violence separately from each other, without accounting for their interplay. This Article proposes a conceptual framework of sexual abuse of older women that integrates age and gender in the analysis. To achieve this end, this Article examines 109 publicly available American cases involving sexual violence against women over the age of 60, between the years 2000 and 2018, which are based on a search of 1,308 American cases. Based on this new empirical database, this Article offers an opportunity for analyzing the social and legal “taboo” regarding sexual abuse of older women. Despite findings indicating that sexual abuse of older women (and older people in general) is a significant issue creating serious consequences for victims, the Article shows that legal actors, social workers, health professionals, family members, and society miss its signs. Sexual abuse of older women is being noticed and treated by the criminal justice system only when it reflects a “real rape” 1 scenario. The obstacles to effective prosecution and to full access to the criminal justice system are distinctive in the case of older victims because of the effect of age, the way age shapes the experience of older victims of sexual violence, the effects of sexual violence on the victims, and its interplay with gender. Although sexual violence against older women is a form of elder abuse, it should be viewed separately from other forms of elder abuse and should be understood as part of a wider context of gender-based violence. There is a need for a holistic approach to sexual violence of older women, which perceives the sexual violence as a unique phenomenon and provides older women with legal and social mechanisms that fit their needs and experience both as women and elderly people.

What of the Child? Preventing the Publication of Children's Names After the Age of 18

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Sophy Baird
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Child Victims ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Right

Children are afforded a number of protections when they encounter the criminal justice system. The need for special protection stems from the vulnerable position children occupy in society. When children form part of the criminal justice system, either by being an offender, victim, or witness, they may be subjected to harm. To mitigate against the potential harm that may be caused, our law provides that criminal proceedings involving children should not be open to the public, subject to the discretion of the court. This protection naturally seems at odds with the principle of open justice. However, the courts have reconciled the limitation with the legal purpose it serves. For all the protection and the lengths that the law goes to protect the identity of children in this regard, it appears there is an unofficial timer dictating when this protection should end. The media have been at the forefront of this conundrum to the extent that they believe that once a child (offender, victim, or witness) turns 18 years old, they are free to reveal the child's identity. This belief, grounded in the right to freedom of expression and the principle of open justice, is at odds with the principle of child's best interests, right to dignity and the right to privacy. It also stares incredulously in the face of the aims of the Child Justice Act and the principles of restorative justice. Measured against the detrimental psychological effects experienced by child victims, witnesses, and offenders, this article aims to critically analyse the legal and practical implications of revealing the identity of child victims, witnesses, and offenders after they turn 18 years old.

Children as Witnesses in Child Sexual Abuse Trials

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-589
Author(s):  
Julius Landwirth
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Child Witnesses ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Presumption Of Innocence ◽  
Child Sexual Abusers ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse Trials

When alleged child sexual abusers are prosecuted and brought to trial, child witnesses are often exposed to procedural requirements of the criminal justice system that may cause further psychologic trauma. These procedures are driven by the dual interests of pursuing the truth and protecting the constitutional rights of the accused to a fair trial with a presumption of innocence. Proposals for judicial reforms designed to balance both interests while shielding children from potential adverse effects of the process are discussed.

The Criminal Justice System and Child Placement in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore P. Cross ◽  
Diane Martell ◽  
Elizabeth McDonald ◽  
Marilyn Ahl
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Child Placement

scholarly journals Court support workers speak out: Upholding children’s rights in the criminal justice system

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loraine Townsend ◽  
Samantha Waterhouse ◽  
Christina Nomdo
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Child Victims ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Victims Of Sexual Abuse

The prevalence of sexual offences against children in South Africa continues to be among the highest in the world. The quality and accuracy of a child’s testimony is often pivotal to whether cases are prosecuted, and whether justice is done. Child witness programmes assist child victims of sexual abuse to prepare to give consistent, coherent and accurate testimony, and also attempt to ensure that the rights of the child are upheld as enshrined in the various laws, legislative frameworks, directives and instructions that have been introduced since 1994. We draw on information from two studies that sought the perspectives of court support workers to explore whether a child rights-based approach is followed in the criminal justice system (CJS) for child victims of sexual abuse. Findings suggest varying degrees of protection, assistance and support for child victims of sexual abuse during participation in the CJS. The findings revealed that the rights of children to equality, dignity and not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way were undermined in many instances. Finally, recommendations are given on ways to mitigate the harsh effects that adversarial court systems have on children’s rights.

scholarly journals Sexual Assault Case Processing: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassia Spohn
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Status ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Assault Victims ◽  
Sexual Assault Case

One of the goals of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is to end violence against women and girls in all countries. An important component of this goal is ensuring that all crimes of violence against women and girls are taken seriously by the criminal justice system and that police, prosecutors, judges and jurors respond appropriately. However, research detailing how cases of sexual assault proceed in the criminal justice system reveals that this goal remains elusive, both in the United States and elsewhere. The rape reform movement ushered in changes to traditional rape law that were designed to encourage victims to report to the police and to remove barriers to arrest and successful prosecution. However, four decades after this reform, victims are still reluctant to report sexual assaults to the police, and arrest, prosecution and conviction rates for sexual assault cases are shockingly low. Reversing these trends will require policy changes that are designed to counteract the stereotypes and myths underpinning sexual assault and sexual assault victims.

Views of justice among survivors of historical child sexual abuse

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley Jülich
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Adult Survivors ◽  
Gendered Violence ◽  
Sense Of Justice

Restorative justice for adults in New Zealand has made a cautious start, although crimes of gendered violence are typically excluded. The findings reported in this article draw on interviews of adult survivors of child sexual abuse (eighteen women and three men), asking them to describe their experiences with the abuse and its impact, and to suggest changes to the criminal justice system, which would provide them with a sense of justice. Although the survivors spoke of justice in ways that reflected the goals of restorative justice, they were reluctant to endorse restorative justice as a paradigm within which they would pursue justice.

The sexual abuse of children: A discussion of the inadequacy of the current South Australian legislative regime and suggestions for reform

1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Corkhill
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Child Molestation ◽  
Sex Tourism

One of the main reasons why the current South Australian criminal justice system fails to provide an appropriate response to the issue of child sexual abuse is that the legislation proscribing this conduct does not reflect the dynamics of child molestation. As a result the penalties imposed by the Courts fail to recognise the seriousness of these crimes against children. The adoption of the legislative scheme of the Crimes (Child Sex Tourism) Amendment Act 1994 (Cth) would provide a framework for the reassessment of these crimes and hopefully lead to a more realistic response by the justice system.

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