Is Secondary Victimisation A Necessary Evil For Justice...

IS SECONDARY VICTIMISATION A NECESSARY EVIL FOR JUSTICE WITHIN CONTEMPORARY CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS? This essay will explore the statement that secondary victimisation is a necessary evil In terms of contemporary justice by addressing it through three key lenses, these are Law enforcement agencies, and the court system. WHAT IS RE-VICTIMISATION? Re-victimisation or secondary victimisation has huge prevalence throughout all areas of the contemporary society and example of this comes from the study’s done Patterson who found that nearly half of all rape victim who seek asylum with a law enforcement agencies will face some form of victimisation. Secondary victimisation by definition is any behaviours and subsequent attitudes that indulge in victim blaming and insensitivity, to which cause psychological trauma to the victim. The outcomes of can be devastating as it was found that women who suffered from a crime like rape were more likely to suffer from psychological illness’s like post traumatic personality disorder, however the study did no conclude that the re-victimisation was a causation but rather a reinforce or an undeniable trigger. This study was only conducted with rape victims so it is unclear whether this can be extrapolated onto other crimes, but what is clear is that re-victimisation within any setti ng is ultimately damaging to the victims involved. SECONDARY VICTIMISATION IN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES? Law enforcement agencies play a massive role in the justice