We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The Therapeutic Potential of Victim Impact Statements for Sexual Violence.
- Authors
McGovern, Danica
- Abstract
This article proposes four ways in which making a victim impact statement can assist sexual violence survivors with their recovery: receiving formal recognition and acknowledgement, developing insight into the effects of the offending and the resources available for addressing those effects, facilitating grief and growth, and reducing shame. It discusses ways in which clinicians and specialist victims' advisors can assist survivors to prepare their victim impact statement, in order to maximise the therapeutic potential of making a victim impact statement. The article then discusses how the legal role of victim impact statements and the context in which they are prepared and submitted can limit their potential as a tool for recovery. It suggests how these limitations can be negotiated, in order to maximise the therapeutic potential of making a victim impact statement. Finally, the article outlines some of the risks that making a victim impact statement may pose for survivors. It describes existing legal provisions which could help survivors to manage these risks, and discusses other steps that clinicians and specialist victims' advisors can take to reduce the likelihood that making a victim impact statement will cause survivors further harm.
- Subjects
NEW Zealand; SEX crimes; SEXUAL abuse victims; SURVIVORS of abuse; CRIME victims; GRIEF; SHAME
- Publication
Sexual Abuse in Australia & New Zealand, 2013, Vol 5, Issue 2, p21
- ISSN
1833-8488
- Publication type
Article