RE: Legislative Advocacy and Survivors

["J. Randall Webber" <rwebber@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dr. Hartley makes a good point.  As most in the field know, a factor which adds to the trauma of victimization is not being believed when one breaks silence.  Being questioned intensively, as one is at a trial or when before a legislative body, can appear to represent (or may be in actually represent) a form of disbelief.  Thus, the stage is set for a replication of the original trauma.

 

-Randy Webber 

J. Randall Webber, M.P.H. rwebber@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Director of Training and Publications
Chestnut Health Systems
Lighthouse Institute
720 W. Chestnut Street
Bloomington, IL  61701
(309) 829-1058 Ext 3411
http://www.chestnut.org

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@xxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Carolyn Hartley
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 1999 9:11 AM
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject: Re: Legislative Advocacy and Survivors

Julie,

The literature on the prosecution of domestic violence and rape might be useful (see cites below).

You may find the issue of credibility and the ultimate outcome of the testifying process to be related to possible traumatic outcome. In an adversarial process, such as a criminal trial, the victim's testimony/credibility is challenged, and in many cases attacked by the defense. This challenge/attack no doubt can have a very traumatic effect on the victim, and if the defendant is acquitted, the outcome has an additional negative impact (see Madigan, The Second Rape).

Legislative testimony may have a more empowering impact if the victim is there to simply present a story, but not put in a position of having to "defend" the story.

Both the Schafran and Schepple articles present very interesting arguments about how women as a group are perceived as less credible, and therefore less "believable" as witnesses in legal proceedings. Ford has done some work on victim empowerment in the prosecution process. There is also some interesting work on what characteristics make for a more "appropriate" or "believable" victim in our culture (see Gibbs, et. al. and Winkel & Koppelaar) - jurors are looking for the "right" level of emotionality - not too "hysterical," not to numb.

You may also find the Simon article useful. She discusses the concept of therapeutic jurisprudence - Therapeutic jurisprudence "suggests that the law can act as a therapeutic agent whereby legal rules, legal procedures, and the roles of legal actors can constitute social forces that often produce therapeutic or anti-therapeutic results." For example, if a batterer pleads not guilty and the charges are dismissed or he is acquitted, then the trial process has an anti-therapeutic effect because the offender "gets off" - thereby reinforcing his denial and or minimization of his abusive behavior. If the batterer is required to admit guilt before being diverted to a treatment program, this may have a theraputic effect by requiring the batterer to admit responsibility for his abusive actions.

I am currently working on a paper on how the defense attacks the credibility of witnesses in domestic violence cases. The findings of this study have implications for victim advocacy. I would be happy to send this paper when I finish. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have additional questions.

Carolyn Copps Hartley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
University of Iowa
School of Social Work
308 North Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242
319-335-1267


Bennett, L., Goodman, L., M. A. Dutton (1999). Systematic obstacles to the criminal prosecution of a battering partner: A victim perspective. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 761-772.
Ford, D. (1991). Prosecution as a victim power resource: A note on empowering women in violent conjugal relationships. Law & Society Review, 25, 313-314.
Gibbs, M., Sigal, J, Friedman, C. R., & Orosy-Fildes, C. (1995). Factors affecting credibility in a simulated sexual harassment hearing. Violence Against Women, 1(4), 366-379.
Hanna, C. (1996). No right to choose: Mandated victim participation in domestic violence prosecutions. Harvard Law Review, 109, 1849-1910.
Jenkins, P. J. (1996). Contested knowledge: Battered women as agents and victims. In P. J. Jenkins & Kroll-Smith, S. (Eds.), Witnessing for Sociology: Sociologist in Court, pp. 93-111. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishing.
Konradi, A. (1996). Understanding rape survivors' preparations for court. Violence Against Women, 2(1), 25-62.
Madigan, L. & Gamble, N. C. (1991). The second rape: Society's continued betrayal of the victim. NY: Lexington Books.
Schafran, L. H. (1995). Credibility in the courts: Why is there a gender gap. The Judges Journal, 34, 5-9, 40-42.
Scheppele, K. L. (1992). Just the facts, ma'am: Sexualized violence, evidentiary habits, and the revision of truth. New York Law School Review, 37, 123-172.
Simon, L. M. J. (1996). The legal processing of domestic violence cases. In B. D. Sales & D. W. Shuman (Eds.), Law, Mental health, and mental disorder, (pp. 440-463). NY: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
Weisz, A. N. (1999). Legal advocacy for domestic violence survivors: The power of an informative relationship. Families in Society, 80,138-147.
Winkel, F. W. & Koppelaar, L. (1991). Rape victims' style of self-presentation and secondary victimization by the environment: An experiment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 6(1), 29-40.
Wittner, J. (1998). Reconceptualizing agency in domestic violence court. In N. A. Naples (Ed.), Community activism and feminist politics, (pp. 81-104). New York: Routledge.




At 12:18 PM 9/24/99 -0400, you wrote:
> I am beginning the first stage of creating a dissertation topic. I have
>an idea of what I would like to focus on but am unsure if there is any
>knowledge base in the literature to build a dissertation upon. I am not
>finding any literature that is directly related to my research question.
>
>My research questions are based on the following. I have worked in the
>field of legislative advocacy and have seen people testify before
>legislative committee, where they recount their experiences of domestic
>violence and child abuse. I have two primary questions: Is this traumatic
>or empowering for these survivors to testify before the legislature? What
>factors make this testimony more or less traumatic? Would you say that
>this type of testimony is similar to the testmony in court, in terms of
>trauma experienced by the person testifying?
>
>I am hoping that through this research, the field of advocacy can gain
>insight into how advocacy can be successfully accomplished without
>sacrificing the emotional health of survivors or other consumers of social
>serives.
>
>Does anyone have any ideas of where I can go to get information on this
>topic? If you have information on how to do advocacy while actively
>involving other consumers, such as families affected by disabilities,
>mental illness, or poverty, that information might also be helpful.
>
>Thank you.
>
>Julie Steen
>Florida State University
>
>
>