Victims of Crime Research Digest

Welcome!

The theme of this year's National Victims of Crime Awareness Week is "Finding the Way Together." In recognition of this theme, the Policy Centre for Victims Issues and the Research and Statistics Division at the Department of Justice are pleased to announce a new collaborative publication, the Victims of Crime Research Digest. The Digest will be an annual, joint publication featuring short articles dedicated to victims of crime research. Research is an important tool in helping to incorporate victims' voices on many issues in the criminal justice system and to affect change in legislation, policy or practice.

In Canada, the body of research on victim issues is growing, but there remains much data to be collected to further our understanding of criminal justice processes, as well as the expectations, perceptions and needs of victims. We hope that the Digest will help to highlight some of the research that is being undertaken and that it will help share some of the findings.

We begin Issue 1 with an article by Professor Julian Roberts examining research on the past twenty years of Victim Impact Statements in Canada. In the second article, Aubrie McGibbon then summarizes the current state of Codes of Ethics for Victim Services. Next, Lisa Warrilow and Susan McDonald describe research on the Federal Victim Surcharge and Charlotte Fraser offers a short background piece on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder. Pearl Rimer and Barb McIntyre offer some observations on the collaborative methodology used to collect data on testimonial aids for children in criminal cases. Finally, Jodi-Anne Brzozowski, from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, provides an overview of data from the 2005/06 Victim Services Survey. Full reports on many of these studies are forthcoming, so please contact the Research and Statistics Division for more information at rsd-drs@justice.gc.ca.