Institute of Criminology Public Seminars: 'Justice Journeys: experiences of the criminal justice process for victim-survivors of rape'

Speaker: Professor Michele Burman, Professor of Criminology, Head of School, University of Glasgow

There are serious and long-standing concerns about the experiences of victim-survivors of rape and serious sexual assault within the criminal justice process. These concerns include ‘secondary victimisation’ throughout the criminal justice process (Kelly et al., 2005; Burman, 2009), high numbers of cases which do not reach court (Kelly et al., 2005), a ‘culture of scepticism’ leading to an over-estimation of the scale of false allegations (see Kelly et al., 2005), and a lack of coordinated service provision to victims (Feist et al., 2007; Robinson, 2009). Each of these concerns reveal a challenging landscape for the pursuit of safe and effective routes to justice for survivors of rape and sexual assault. Often lacking in such analyses, however, is engagement with victim-survivors to seek their views on their experiences of the criminal justice process.

This seminar draws on findings from three related research projects which yielded testimonies uncovering rich and difficult to attain data about victim-survivors’ end-to-end experiences of criminal justice, as well as their broader lived experiences, which come to inform their decisions to engage or discontinue in the process. Discussion will focus on the key findings of these projects, but also on the ways in which the research team and the research participants are collaborating to produce a set of narrative accounts and accompanying artwork to illustrate experiences of criminal justice, offering some insights for creative arts-based practice in criminological research.

The IoC Public Seminar Series is open to all interested in attending, with no ticket required, but please notify Reception if you wish to attend: crimrece@hermes.cam.ac.uk.

If you wish to be added to the seminar mailing list, please contact: enquiries@cim.cam.ac.uk