- Title
- Experiences of judicial officers’ inclusion of victim impact reports during the criminal justice process
- Creator
- Phillips, Adelette
- Subject
- Victim impact reports
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MSW
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44676
- Identifier
- vital:38153
- Description
- Judicial officers have a responsibility to bring about a victim-centred approach within the criminal justice system. Victims’ participation is promoted through inclusion of victim impact evidence; however, challenges are experienced in the criminal justice system. Victim impact reports, as an option to provide this evidence, are selectively requested by judicial officers. Underpinned by the General Theory of Victimology, this study explored the experiences of judicial officers’ inclusion of victim impact reports during the criminal justice process. Highlighting the factors that motivate the inclusion of these reports during the criminal justice process. This qualitative study employed an exploratory, descriptive, contextual design. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to select magistrates and prosecutors to participate in individual semistructured interviews. Data collected was analysed using thematic data analysis and various data verification strategies were used to ensure trustworthiness of the findings. Judicial officers had positive and negative experiences of including victim impact reports. Most judicial officers are positively inclined to include victim impact reports as they provide insight into the harm or impact of the crime. This study contributed to a greater understanding of the internal and external factors that motivate judicial officers to include victim impact reports during the criminal justice process. The findings revealed that the lack of specialised victim services and victim service social workers are barriers to judicial officers embracing a victim-centred approach through the inclusion of victim impact reports. Victim services legislation must address the lack of victim services providers and acknowledge the statutory obligation of victim service social workers.
- Format
- xiii, 226 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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NMU School of Behavioural Sciences
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Phillips, A 187041320 Dissertation Dec 2019.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |