Reflective Writing Masterclass & Victim-Survivor Justice – Comprehensive Notes

Guest Introduction and Session Context

• Convenor Andy announces focus is shifting to Assessment 3 – Reflective Essay (some students still finishing Assessment 2).
• Special guest: Dr Chelsea Van Deventer (PhD in Sociology; 7 yrs teaching reflective assessments; works with UNSW Academic Skills).
• Aim: demystify reflective writing for 1st-year students accustomed to impersonal, non-first-person school writing.
• Session designed to be interactive; Q&A welcomed.

Why Reflective Thinking Matters

• Everyone reflects informally (e.g.
  3 a.m. rumination) but academic reflection adds:
  • Purpose
  • Structure
  • Discipline-specific language.
• Functions of reflection:
  • Deepen conceptual understanding by linking theory ⇆ lived experience.
  • Identify patterns/assumptions (“Why do I always do X?”).
  • Plan future improvement (“feed-forward” mindset).
  • Challenge/confirm taken-for-granted beliefs (friendships, email tone, cultural etiquette, etc.).
• Reflection cycle: Present → Past → Future; look back to look forward.

Reflective Writing vs. Private Writing

• Comparable to diaries/blogs but adds:
  • Explicit link to course concepts, theory + references.
  • Clear focus (task question, key passage, learning moment).
  • Academic tone (first-person allowed; still grammatically correct, no slang).
• Formats vary by discipline: blog-style, journal entries, portfolios.

Common Student Difficulties

• Misperceiving task as “too casual/no right answer.”
• Stopping at mere description; failing to analyse why events matter.
• Aversion to first-person voice.

Structural Heuristics

Basic Journalism Grid (Who/What/When/Where/Why/How)

• ‘Why’ & ‘How’ push writing into analytic, critical domain.

The 5 R’s Model (used by UNSW Academic Skills)

1. Reporting/Responding – What happened? Key concepts/issues?
2. Relating – How does it connect to prior knowledge/experience?
3. Reasoning – Analyse causes, relationships, significance.
4. Reconstructing – What lessons? Future application/action?
5. Reviewing – Continuous loop; refine understanding.

Assessment Rubric Translation

• High-distinction band = “advanced level of critical reflection” + “broader implications (So what? Who cares?).”
• Markers look for depth & nuance rather than polished but shallow prose.

Prompt Areas for Assessment 3

• “Something unexpected/surprising” → why did it challenge assumptions?
• “Thoughts or assumptions challenged” → positionality (cultural, social, personal).
• “Area with largest impact” → articulate significance + concrete future change.

Writing Tips from Chelsea

• Honesty trumps perfection – admit confusion, lingering questions.
• Flesh out concrete details; avoid ChatGPT-style vagueness.
• Pose questions then attempt answers; minimise empty rhetorical questions.
• Seek connections across learning moments; identify emergent themes.
• Accept first-person (“I,” “my”) but maintain academic register (no texting shorthand).
• Short direct quotations useful → unpack meaning line by line.
• Clarity with concepts: define in own words, reference source, show precise usage.
  • Use the dictionary & etymology for precision.

Mind-Mapping Technique (Chelsea’s Workflow)

1. Central bubble: “CRIM1101 Reflection.”
2. Branches: lectures, readings, tutorial debates, epiphanies.
3. Sub-branches: match experiences to key course concepts (e.g. justice, criminal vs criminal-legal system, recidivism).
4. Attach quotes/page numbers; plan analytical links.

Example Concepts Mentioned in Class

• Justice (symbolised by scales; culturally contingent).
• Criminal legal system vs criminal justice system.
• Recidivism ($\text{tendency to re-offend}$).
• Crisis, peace, power, positionality, etc.

Language, Referencing & Presentation

• Use UNSW Harvard guide; check citations manually (EndNote ≠ infallible).
• Maintain logical, creative, reflective flow; precise word choice.
• No dot-point submissions; craft coherent paragraphs.

Beyond University: Professional Relevance

• Reflection essential in cover letters, CVs (capstone task in Year 3 BCCJ).
• Social work / community projects require positionality & reflective practice (example: Indigenous community engagement fiasco).
• Core to counselling, anticolonial research methods, policing reform, etc.

Lecture Segment 2 – Victim-Survivors & Criminal Legal System

Criminology’s Historical Bias

• Early criminology focused on offenders & punishment; victims largely ignored.
• Feminist & critical scholarship (≈ 1970s) introduced victimology, reframing research questions.

Two Research Streams on Victimisation

1. Experiential Studies – prevalence, patterns via self-report surveys (e.g. ABS Personal Safety Survey).
2. Criminal-Legal Process Studies – secondary victimisation, cross-examination practices, socio-legal reform.

Definitional Complexities

• Legal vs social vs historical categories (e.g. coercive control criminalised only in some states).
• State-perpetrated harms (deaths in custody) often excluded from crime stats.
• Victim–offender overlap blurs binaries; addressed in Violence & Victimisation course.
• Cultural myths: “real rape” = stranger, public, violent → delegitimises most assaults.

Key Statistics on Sexual Violence (Australia)

• Lifetime prevalence: $20\%$ cis-women; $6\%$ cis-men; $\approx 50\%$ trans & gender-diverse people.
• Avg. time to disclose child sexual abuse: $23\text{ yrs}$.
• Reporting funnel:
  • $\approx 8\%$ report to police.
  • $\approx 85\%$ of those end at investigation ⇒ $\approx 2\%$ proceed.
  • $\approx 41\%$ of that 2 % yield conviction ⇒ $\approx 1\%$ of total cases.
• Impacts: chronic pain, mental-health disorders, disrupted education/employment; magnified for structurally marginalised groups.

Evolution of Victims’ Role in Court

• Pre-modern era: victims (prosecutrix) initiated prosecutions.
• Modern adversarial trial → victim reduced to witness; “disappearing victim.”
• Feminist reforms: victim impact statements, rape-in-marriage criminalised (1980s), gender-neutral offences, 24-hr support lines, refuges.

Justice Needs Frameworks

Holder & Daly – Multi-Stage Needs

• Initial: immediate safety.
• Later: accountability, behaviour change, acknowledgement.

Daly et al. – Kaleidoscopic Justice Dimensions

1. Consequences (accountability).
2. Dignity (respectful treatment).
3. Voice (storytelling).
4. Prevention (no one else harmed).
5. Connectedness (social belonging).

Case Study: LGBTIQ Hate Crimes in Sydney (1970s-1990s)

• 88 suspected murders; >30 unsolved (ACON 2018 “In Pursuit of Truth & Justice”).
• Modus operandi: groups luring gay men to coastal “beats” (Marks Park, Tamarama) → assaults, cliff deaths.
• Police culture: 1958 Commissioner Delaney called homosexuality “Australia’s greatest menace.” Entrapment, blackmail & under-policing common.
• Scott Johnson (1988 death) – initially ruled suicide; family fought 3 coronial inquests; 2020 arrest; 2023 conviction.
• Investigative milestones:
  • 2018-19 NSW Legislative Council inquiry (evidence from Dr Caroline F).
  • 2023-24 Special Judicial Inquiry → police apology (2024).
• Ongoing ramifications: low reporting rates among LGBTIQ people; liaison programs; community patrols (e.g.
  Dykes on Bikes) filled policing void.

Justice/Redress Measures Proposed or Enacted

• Formal apology (issued 2024).
• Memorial at Marks Park (community-chosen design/location/insignia) = symbolic justice & mourning site.
• Compensation schemes (limited).
• Cold-case reopenings & DNA retesting.
• Expungement of historical homosexual-offence convictions (post-2017 legislation).
• Primary-prevention education & hate-crime law reform.

Connections to Course Themes

• Illustrates intersection of victimisation, state power, historical legal change, and restorative vs retributive justice.
• Echoes prior lectures on dark figure of crime, marginalised communities’ distrust of police, and critical criminology focus on structural harms.

Key Take-Aways for Upcoming Reflective Essay

• Use your own aha-moments (e.g.
  learning about hate-crime under-reporting) to analyse assumptions.
• Show how criminology’s offender-focus obscures lived realities of victims—connect to kaleidoscopic justice dimensions.
• Ground abstract concepts (justice, recidivism, victim-offender overlap) in personal experiences (lectures, media, workplace, community).
• Consider ethical stakes: how might your future professional role engage with victims’ multifaceted justice needs?