Michael O’ConnellCommissioner for Victims’ Rights

September 2015

Co-Victims of Domestic Violence Homicide:

Supporting Children and Young People

Homicide

• Crime statistics provide no true measure of the number of people – young or old – affected by homicide

• Co-victims (feeling ‘victimised’ as a result of homicide)

• Those ‘immediately’ bereaved – mothers, fathers, partners, children, siblings, grand-parents, uncles and aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews

• Friends, colleagues, neighbours

• Entire communities

Analogy of the ‘mobile’• Families similar to ‘mobiles’:

• Different shapes and sizes• Pieces move at different speeds and in various relations & distances

from the others• Common struts and wires that hold pieces together as one

• Likened to family bonds, traditions, culture, belongings and so on

• ‘Breezes of life’ keep the mobile moving and changing• Harsh winds might cause parts to clash but mobile remains

together• Eventually as the breeze / wind eases the mobile returns to a

‘peaceful motion’• Even strongest mobile, however, will lose its ‘equilibrium’ if

one of its pieces is destroyed – homicide is such a destructive force (the family bereaved is never exactly the same as was)

How people react to homicide• General reactions / responses: pain & anguish; distress;

shock & confusion; bewilderment; disbelief

• Bereavement: sudden, unexpected; deliberate act / omission of another; no preparation or chance to say ‘good-bye’

• Perceived safety concerns: worry if the killer is not apprehended that he or she might come back; belief in a ‘safe world’ shattered

• Guilt & blame: revisiting the ‘circumstances’ and lead-up to the death then sense of guilt and/or self-blaming

How children respond to grief• Intense grief – magnified if they witnessed the ‘killing’

• As well as reactions similar to those mentioned:• Easily startled• Suffer nightmares• Digestive problems• Physical illness• Withdrawn• Self-social-isolation• Limited / altered trust of other people• Difficulties making attachments

Parentally bereaved children• One of the most traumatic events that can happen in

childhood

• Places child ‘at risk’ of many negative outcomes:• Mental health – depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress• ‘Traumatic grief’ – yearning for the deceased parent;

unwillingness to accept the death• Under-achievement in education• Lower self-esteem & greater external ‘locus of control’ – feeling of

helplessness; sense of feeling of loss of internal control• Sense of loneliness & feelings of isolation• Maladaptive ‘self-victimisation’ – substance abuse

• That said, many children adapt & do not experience serious problems (Haine et al 2010)

Parentally bereaved children• Children’s adjustment, however, greatly influenced by the

‘events’ that happen post the parental (or significant other) death

• Dynamic interplay – proximal ‘stressful’ events experienced in the aftermath:• Separation from family members• Parental distress• Financial difficulties• Child’s ‘protective’ resources (e.g. coping skills)• Exposure to stressful changes

Importance of ‘normality’ / sense of stability in an otherwise ‘chaotic situation’ – continuity can help child make sense of loss

Domestic violence – children as victims• Children who witness domestic violence:

• Often believe they are to blame• Can live in a constant state of fear• More likely to be victims of child abuse

• Children who are exposed to domestic violence & abused present / reveal emotional, psychological, and behavioural consequences that are similar (even identical in many ways)

• Dual exposure in young children can negatively & significantly impact outcomes later in their life:• Truancy / school dropout• Tendency towards anti-social behaviour, even to perpetrate violence• Teenage pregnancy• Alcohol & other substance abuse / misuse• Eating disorders• Suicidal thoughts, attempts & completed suicide

Systemic factors that hamper coping

• Loss of privacy

• Media intrusion & interference of others

• Unwitting / inappropriate attitudes and/or behaviour of others

• Secondary injuries imposed by the criminal justice system

Criminal Justice System• Moves into action while those bereaved are grappling with

the ‘immediate’, tragic loss of someone close to them

• System can leave those bereaved “trembling in its wake” – adds to their pain and anguish; delays

• The bereaved lose control over their loved one; and, may also loss control of their home if it is the crime scene

• Confusion can prevail as the investigation, trial, verdict, sentence, appeal and parole happens around them

• Research: families who have no involvement with CJS cope better

Assisting – Bereaved children

• Practical / material – Provide child-victim a safe environment that does not include violence

• Emotional – Help child-victim find a loving and supportive ‘carer’ (who, among other things, help children regain trust in others, to cope and develop resiliency)

• Medical – available & accessible

• Psychological – ‘psychological first aid’

• Financial – basic needs; education & other developmental needs

Assisting – Bereaved children

• Primary goal – decrease children’s exposure to stressful changes following death

• Validate the loss

• Not discount children’s grief

• Facilitate reinvestment in children’s lives

• Assist children by strengthening family / carer capacity to deal with their own grief

Commissioner for Victims’ Rights

Commissioner’s Functions

• To marshal government resources to assist victims of crime

• For example, lobbied for additional funding in child protection services

• To assist victims in their dealings with prosecution authorities and other government agencies.

• For example, provide ‘limited’ legal assistance to child victims when there was a ‘dispute’ over their competency

Functions cont.

• To consult the DPP in the interests of the victims in general and in particular cases about matters including victim impact statements and charge bargains.

• To monitor and review the effect of the law and of court practices and procedures on victims.

• Advocacy for vulnerable witness protection law and practices

• To consult with the judiciary about court practices and procedures, and their effect on victims.

• Use of suppression orders to ‘protect’ identity of child co-victims

Functions cont.• If another Act authorises or requires the Commissioner to

make submissions in any proceedings – to make such submissions (either personally or through counsel).

• Before the Supreme Court hearing a ‘dangerous offender’ application.

• Before the Court of Criminal Appeal on guideline sentences.

• To make victim impact statements; especially neighbourhood & social impact statements

• Impact of domestic violence

• Implicit authority – Advocacy– Non-criminal / civil - Freezing order- Coroner’s Court – Interested person

Functions cont.• 32A—Victim may exercise rights through an appropriate

representative(1) Rights granted to a victim under this, or any other, Act may be

exercised on behalf of the victim by an appropriate representative chosen by the victim for that purpose.

(2) This section does not apply to rights, or rights of a kind, prescribed by the regulations.

(3) In this section— appropriate representative, in relation to a victim, means any of the following:

–(a) an officer of the court;–(b) the Commissioner for Victims' Rights or a person acting on behalf of the Commissioner for Victims' Rights;–(c) an officer or employee of an organisation whose functions consist of, or include, the provision of support or services to victims of crime;–(d) a relative of the victim;–(e) another person who, in the opinion of the Commissioner for Victims' Rights, would be suitable to act as an appropriate representative.

Statutory compensation & practical assistance

• State-funded victim compensation for personal injury

• Compensation• Ex gratia payments

• Discretionary payments (s31 Victims of Crime Act)

• Crime scene clean-up• Personal security• Relocation• Supporting person payment

Functions cont.

• Is able to require a public agency or official to consult with him/her regarding steps that may be taken by the agency/official to further the interests of victims; and

• After such consultation, may, where he/she believes that the agency or official has failed to comply with the declaration of principles, recommend that the agency or official issue a written apology to the relevant victim.

• The Commissioner is required to have regard for the wishes of the person (victim)

“There’s an east wind coming, Watson.”

“I think not, Holmes. It is very warm.”

“Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There’s an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But in God’s own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm is cleared.Start her up, Watson, for its time that we were on our way …”

Senseless violence is hard for everyone

to understand (especially children).