Beyond Punishment Seminar Series: The Role of Victims in the Criminal Justice System: Participants or Observers?
Beyond Punishment Seminar Series: The Role of Victims in the Criminal Justice System: Participants or Observers?
Due to the extended lockdown in Sydney , this event will now be held online only.
Traditionally, criminal processes have been seen as matters involving exclusively the state and the accused person. However, there is an emerging movement towards recognising the right of victims to take part in criminal justice processes and shape their outcomes.
This seminar will bring together a panel of experts to discuss the interests of crime victims in criminal justice processes, and the measures that have been, and should be, taken by policymakers to advance these interests.
Particular reference will be made to the role of victim impact statements. To what extent do such statements facilitate victim participation in legal proceedings? To what extent should they affect sentencing decisions?
Of course, the role of victims in the criminal justice system extends beyond victim impact statements. For example, victims participate in trials as witnesses and they can be crucially interested in parole decisions. Victims’ advocates maintain that the criminal justice system has much work to do if it is properly to accommodate victims’ rights in its processes.
There might be some tension between the participation of victims in criminal trials, on one hand, and the rights of the accused and the adversarial trial on the other. Yet arguably participation by victims shores up the integrity and legitimacy of the system as a whole, and produces restorative outcomes for the community. Policymakers including Corrective Services NSW are working to recognise and reconcile these interests today.
Panellists:
- Martha Jabour OAM, Executive Director, Homicide Victims’ Support Group (Aust) Inc
- Dr Tyrone Kirchengast, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Law School
- Dr Anne Marie Martin, Assistant Commissioner, Offender Management and Programs, Corrective Services NSW
Chair:
Dr Robyn Holder, Lecturer at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University and former Victims of Crime Coordinator, ACT
Tuesday 17 August, 6-8pm AEST
*Please note that this event has now been moved entirely online.
This event is sponsored by Corrective Services NSW and hosted by the Sydney Institute of Criminology at The University of Sydney Law School.