AREAS OF PRACTICE > Sexual Assault & Sexual Harassment
Helping victims of sexual assault
The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) has released a landmark report into how the criminal justice system could be improved to help victims of sexual assault.
Solicitors, barristers and judges will need to attend training on how to be more responsive to the needs of complainants in sexual offence cases if recommendations from a VLRC report are fully implemented.
The Sexual Offences: Law and procedure final report, released on 25 August, pushes for cultural change within the criminal justice system in the way it deals with sexual offence victims.
The report calls for bodies such as the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV), the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) and the Judicial College of Victoria (JCV) to offer programs to educate lawyers and judges handling sexual offence cases on the needs of victims.
This is one of 201 recommendations contained in the report, which deals with the entire justice system from the reporting of sexual crimes to trials.
The major recommendations of the VLRC report include:
- better education and training for police, lawyers and judges;
- reducing delays in trials involving children and people with cognitive impairment;
- introducing a specialist list in the Magistrates’ Court for cases involving offences against children to improve the speed and sensitivity of the process;
- reducing the number of times children and people with a cognitive impairment must give their evidence and be cross-examined on it;
- tightening judges’ control of cross-examination and barring the accused from personally questioning the complainant or other vulnerable witnesses;
- making testimony by closed circuit television routine for all complainants;
- allowing testimony of children and people with a cognitive impairment to be recorded before trial to reduce delay and trauma;
- further restricting access to the complainant’s counselling records;
- widening the evidence that juries can hear and who can give it;
- making it illegal for people to “groom” young people for future sexual acts, including through Internet contact;
- the establishment of a working party to improve responses to young sexual offenders; and
- widening the offences which protect people with a cognitive impairment against sexual abuse.
Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls has committed to forming a working party within his department to examine 83 of the report’s recommendations that would require legislative change to be implemented.
The final report can be downloaded at www.lawreform.vic.gov.au.
More information
From the Bookshop
Crime it Can Happen to You: The story of victim support service, Jo Robinson $24.95
Managing High Risk Sex Offenders in the Community: A psychological approach, Jackie Craissati $60
Disclaimer: The information in this newsletter is not intended to be a complete statement of the law relating to the issues raised. Accordingly, no person should rely on this information without first obtaining specific advice from Ms Eleanor Coates or Sam Marash of our office.
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