Introduction
Welcome to the 17th issue of the Victims of Crime Research Digest!
National Victims and Survivors Week 2024 takes place from May 12th to May 18th.
The theme this year is The Power of Collaboration.
The goal of the Digest is to make research about victims of crime and the criminal justice system accessible to a wide audience, using short articles and clear language. In this issue, we are pleased to include extensive reference lists with several of the articles. These will be great tools for readers who are interested in reading more and diving into more detail on the topics discussed.
The first article, “Victim-Centred Restorative Justice: Program Design and Implementation“ by Patricia Hughes, looks at how the practice of restorative justice has evolved over the past few decades in Canada and worldwide into a more victim-centred approach to better address victims’ needs. The second article, “Accessing Justice for Victims and Survivors of Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence,” by Susan McDonald, reports on the development of several Independent Legal Advice and Independent Legal Representation projects funded by the Department of Justice Canada. Through a series of qualitative interviews, McDonald examines how these projects are making a difference for victims and survivors. In the third article, “A Brief Overview of Coercive Control and the Criminal Law”, Lisa Ha summarizes the research on and evaluations of coercive control legislation in other jurisdictions, such as England and Wales, Scotland, and Australia. In the final article, Bianca Stumpf summarizes the findings from the 2023 Child Advocacy Centre/Child and Youth Advocacy Centre Operational Survey.
Once again, the articles in this issue illustrate the breadth of research that the Department of Justice takes on for victim-related topics to support the goals of the Federal Victims Strategy (FVS). The FVS is a federal government initiative that involves several departments. It has two goals:
- to improve the experience of victims and survivors of crime by giving them a more effective voice in the criminal justice system, and
- to increase access to justice and services for victims and survivors.
We hope you find these articles timely and thoughtful and, as always, we welcome your feedback.
Susan McDonald
Principal Researcher
Research and Statistics Division Policy Centre for Victim Issues
Stephanie Bouchard
Director and Senior Legal Counsel
Policy Centre for Victim Issues
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