Victims and 'Doing' Justice

A person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action.
Someone who feels helpless and passive due to misfortune or ill-treatment.
An individual upon whom an act is committed against their will.
Feels still in trauma, regardless of time passed.

Persons who have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss, or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights.
Through acts or omissions that violate criminal laws, including those proscribing criminal abuse of power.

Terminology and its meaning are important; no single term adequately identifies all experiences of sexual violence, assault, intimate partner violence, and abuse.
Consider the impact of terminology in legal situations and media reporting.
How does the affected individual identify their experience?

The study of the etiology (causes) of victimization, its consequences, how the Criminal Justice System (CJS) assists victims, and how society and the media deal with crime.

Examines institutions and structural relations that favor specific images of victimization.
Draws attention to situations where serious victimization occurs but is not designated as such.

Up until medieval times, criminal justice was predominately victim-centric.
Prior to the 13th century, wrongdoings were seen as private; victims sought reparations from perpetrators.
Aligned with retribution theory (an eye for an eye).

Violence, ritual, mysticism, or talk were common methods to settle disputes in ancient societies.
Indigenous deaths might be responded to by kin spearing the wrongdoer in the thigh or calf – not fatally.
The indigenous people of Papua New Guinea, the Minj-Wahgi employed Tagba boz, whereby opposing sides performed a ritualised and tightly prescribed fight.
The Kalauna people of Melanesia used magic and ritual to replace blame or guilt with shame for perpetrators.

Enlightenment philosophers (e.g., Beccaria, Bentham) believed in the social contract.
State created laws to serve the greatest happiness for the greatest number (Utilitarian philosophy).
It was assumed victims would enact their own revenge if allowed.
The state acted instead seeing the crime as a harm to society more generally.

Local governments assumed the role of judicial proceedings.
The state extracted fines and administered punishments.
The state did not have to care for the victim in any other manner.
Both state and victim were assumed to have the same interest – punishing the offender.
The State (the King/Queen) vs the offender, not victim vs offender.

The victim's role was reduced to:
- Contacting the police and lodging a complaint.
- Attending court to testify for the prosecution.

Primary/Direct Victim: The individual who experienced the criminal act first-hand.
Secondary/Indirect Victim: Family, loved ones, and friends.
Tertiary Victim: Those not immediately involved but still suffered indirect harm.
Secondary Victimisation: Re-traumatization due to negative experiences with the CJS.

Homicide (murder)
Attempted murder
Conspiracy to murder
Manslaughter
Driving causing dangerous death
Assault (Grievous, Serious, Common)
Sexual offenses (Rape, Attempted Rape, Other)
Robbery (Armed, Unarmed)
Other offences against the person (Kidnapping, Abduction, Extortion, Stalking, Life endangering acts)

Males (2022-2023):
- $3.8\%$ experienced physical or threatened assault.
- $2.3\%$ by a stranger.
- $1.7\%$ by a known person.
Females (2022-2023):
- $3.6\%$ experienced physical or threatened assault.
- $1.5\%$ by a stranger.
- $2.3\%$ by a known person.
Trans and gender diverse individuals:
- More likely to be victims of violent crime.
- Trans women of color in Australia are more likely to experience assault by a stranger.
- Gender commonly reported as a factor in victimisation.

Rates of victimisation are highest amongst 12-17 year olds.
Adolescents and young adults face the highest risks of violent victimisation.
Around three in five victims of sexual assault ( $61\%$ ) were under 18 years of age in 2021 (18,925 victims).

Older people have the lowest rates of crime victimisation.
Consumer fraud is more prevalent among older Australians (2.2 times more prevalent than assault).
Variations in risk relate to marital status and recreational activities.

More likely to be victims of assault than non-Indigenous persons.
- NSW: 2.1 times more likely
- SA: 5.9 times more likely
- NT: 6.4 times more likely
Estimates suggest around 90% of violence against First Nations women.
Most cases of sexual abuse of First Nations children are undisclosed.
First Nations women are up to 3.7 times more likely to be victims of sexual violence.

Most First Nations victims of sexual assault were female (70–93%) in 2022.
First Nations women in remote & regional areas experience rates of FV up to 45 times higher, and sexual assault 16-25 times higher, than other Australian women

Two-thirds of Australian computer users have been a victim of cybercrime.
Online abuse and harassment was the most common type of cybercrime experienced (27% in the last 12 months).
- Includes unsolicited sexually explicit messages, hacking, and messages that target, hurt, embarrass, or affect safety.
$26.7\%$ of respondents had been notified of a data breach.

Compassionate, dignified, and respectful treatment.
Expeditious, fair, inexpensive, and accessible redress.
Informed, convenient, and non-prejudicial support.
Restitution to cover loss or harm (restoration, reconstruction, replacement, reimbursement, relocation).
Voluntary, community-based, individualised assistance (medical, psychological, material, social).
Trained institutions and organisations.

Criminal justice was historically victim-focused.
Shifted with industrialisation and urbanisation.
State assumed control, becoming more offender-focused.
Victim rights and needs diminished.
Crime seen as a social harm; victims used by media to sensationalise vulnerability.
Victimisation varies across gender, age, race, and ethnicity.
Victimisation of the environment and non-humans is an emerging area.