State Payments to Victims of Violent Crime: Discretion and Bias in Awards for Sexual Offences

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Author(s)
Daly, Kathleen
Holder, Robyn L
Year published
2019
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Show full item recordAbstract
State monetary schemes for victims of violent crime began in the 1960s and operate in 35 countries today, yet knowledge is lacking on who is applying, how decisions are reached, variation in awards and why amounts may differ. Analysing 291 sexual offence cases in Queensland, we ask whether awards differ by victim sex/gender and by societal constructs of ideal, real rape, and credible victims. We found that male child victims received higher awards than female child victims for more serious sexual offences and that awards to females aged 12 and older were affected by elements associated with real rape and credible victims. ...
View more >State monetary schemes for victims of violent crime began in the 1960s and operate in 35 countries today, yet knowledge is lacking on who is applying, how decisions are reached, variation in awards and why amounts may differ. Analysing 291 sexual offence cases in Queensland, we ask whether awards differ by victim sex/gender and by societal constructs of ideal, real rape, and credible victims. We found that male child victims received higher awards than female child victims for more serious sexual offences and that awards to females aged 12 and older were affected by elements associated with real rape and credible victims. We call upon researchers and governments to pursue and expand this new area of research.
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View more >State monetary schemes for victims of violent crime began in the 1960s and operate in 35 countries today, yet knowledge is lacking on who is applying, how decisions are reached, variation in awards and why amounts may differ. Analysing 291 sexual offence cases in Queensland, we ask whether awards differ by victim sex/gender and by societal constructs of ideal, real rape, and credible victims. We found that male child victims received higher awards than female child victims for more serious sexual offences and that awards to females aged 12 and older were affected by elements associated with real rape and credible victims. We call upon researchers and governments to pursue and expand this new area of research.
View less >
Journal Title
British Journal of Criminology
Volume
59
Issue
5
Funder(s)
ARC
Grant identifier(s)
DP130103775
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Oxford University Press. This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in British Journal of Criminology following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version State Payments to Victims of Violent Crime: Discretion and Bias in Awards for Sexual Offences, British Journal of Criminology, Volume 59, Issue 5, September 2019, Pages 1099–1118 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azz008
Subject
Criminology
Access to justice
Legal systems