DOCSLIB.ORG

Disabled Women and Domestic Violence

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Disabled Women and Domestic Violence Making the links Disabled women and domestic violence Final report Gill Hague, Ravi Thiara, Pauline Magowan and Audrey Mullender Contents Acknowledgements 7 Project note 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 9 1.1 A political issue: the social model versus the medical model 9 a) Which words? 1.2 Aims of the research 11 a) What do we mean by domestic violence and who commits it? b) Which women are included? Chapter 2: What the previous literature tells us 14 2.1 Overview of previous research: gaps and lacks 14 2.2 Findings from previous research: isolation, vulnerability, and issues of power 16 2.3 Developments in service provision and policy 17 2.4 Multiple disadvantage: increased risk but fewer services 18 2.5 Women, disability and inequality 19 Chapter 3: How the study was conducted 20 3.1 Stage 1 20 3.2 Stage 2 20 Chapter 4: The survey of domestic violence services 21 4.1 Provision and policies in domestic violence organisations 21 a) How many disabled women use domestic violence services? b) Policies c) Services for disabled women d) Accessibility 4.2 Attitudes and disability equality training 25 4.3 Gaps in services 26 4.4 What organisations said they needed 27 Chapter 5: The survey of disability organisations 28 5.1 Provision and policies in disability organisations 28 2 a) How many disabled women experiencing domestic violence approached disability organisations? b) Policies c) Provision for disabled women experiencing domestic violence 5.2 Specialist domestic violence training and liaison with other organisations 29 5.3 Gaps in services 30 5.4 What organisations said they needed? 31 Chapter 6: Summary and discussion of the Surveys 33 6.1. Domestic Violence Organisations 33 6.2 Disability Organisations 34 6.3. Partnership between the sectors 35 Chapter 7: Disabled women’s experiences 36 7.1 The women we interviewed 36 a) Age b) Sexuality c) Ethnicity d) Housing e) Children f) Range of impairments that women had 7.2 Women’s experiences of abuse 38 a) Perpetrators b) Period of abuse c) Types of abuse: Physical abuse Sexual abuse Emotional abuse Financial abuse 7.3 Being disabled and the domestic violence experienced 41 a) Sexual abuse b) When the abuser is the main carer: neglect, isolation and intense vulnerability to abuse c) Financial abuse by abusers who are carers d) Being physically dependent, not believed and meant to be grateful e) Reinforcing control and dependency f) Some general themes 7.4 Abuse by personal assistants (PAs) 51 3 7.5 Responding to the abuse 53 a) Triggers to leaving/separating b) Post-separation 7.6 Personal impact of the abuse/impact on self 58 7.7 Impacts on children 60 7.8 In conclusion 62 Chapter 8: Service provision: statutory and voluntary sectors agencies (women’s views and advice) 63 8.1 Women’s help seeking 63 a) Barriers to getting help 8.2 Informal support 67 8.3 Formal agencies 69 a) Professionals b) The Police c) Social services / adult services d) Disability organisations e) Domestic violence organisations f) Other agencies g) Advice to other disabled women 8.4 Women’s suggestions for improvement in practice 84 a) Disability organisations b) Domestic violence organisations c) Other services d) General Chapter 9: Good practice 94 9.1 A brief selection of finding on good practice 95 Chapter 10: Strategic development, disability and domestic violence 98 10.1 The Importance of the Strategic, Partnership and Commissioning Agenda 98 10.2 National strategies, policies and frameworks 99 a) Local Authority Agreements b) Crime and Disorder Reduction and Community Safety Strategies and Plans 10.3 Further Strategic and Commissioning agendas 100 a) The Supporting People Programme b) The ‘No Secrets’ Guidance c) The Domestic Violence National Action Plan and national initiatives on domestic violence 4 d) The Disability Equality Duty d) The Gender Equality Duty 10.4 Local Implementation: equality and domestic violence policies and strategies 104 a) Domestic violence in all ‘equality and diversity’ strategies / disability in all domestic violence strategies b) Domestic violence included in the equalities agenda; Equalities strategies and plans c) Disability included in domestic violence strategies; Domestic violence strategies and action plans 10.5 Domestic Violence Organisations, Local Area Agreements and fears for the future 107 10.6 Disability Services 108 a) Disability Advisory Groups and Networks b) Disability Organisations Chapter 11: Recommendations and ideas for good practice and strategic development 110 11.1 Recommendations and ideas for Good Practice with practical examples 110 a) General Recommendations b) Service provision c) Training d) Policies e) Involving disabled women in developing services, decision making with disabled women and employing disabled women experts f) Accessibility g) Awareness-raising and reaching out to disabled women h) PA Abuse i) Further recommendations for the statutory sector (additional to the major recommendations for all agencies above) j) Community care packages k) Fair Access to Care Services l) Further recommendations for disabled people’s organisations (additional to the major recommendations for all agencies above) 5 m) Further recommendations for domestic violence organisations (additional to the major recommendations for all agencies above) 11.2 Recommendations for Strategic Development 124 a) Strategic and Commissioning Frameworks b) The disability and Gender Equality Duties c) Domestic violence strategies and the diversity and equality agenda d) Domestic violence quality marks and minimum standards e) Domestic violence organisations f) Disabled people’s organisations Chapter 12: Conclusion 129 Bibliography 130 Appendix: Methodology 135 6 Acknowledgments Women’s Aid and the researchers are most grateful for the financial support of the Big Lottery Fund. The researchers would also like to thank Women’s Aid itself, especially the two National Information and Research Officers who worked with the research team to manage and organise the research: Emma Williamson until 2006 and Jackie Barron thereafter. Our sincerest thanks to our Advisory Group and project consultants, most particularly Brenda Ellis, independent disability consultant, and Anne Pridmore, Chair of the UK Disabled People Council, both of whom dedicated much time and energy to the project. We would also like to thank disability activists, Jenny Morris and Jane Bethall who were advisers to the project at the start. Further, both the research team and Women’s Aid would like to express our gratitude to Ruth Bashall, independent disability consultant, for her advice and Disability Equality Training. Further thanks to researchers, Jen Nixon, Jane Ellis and Kannawee Suebsuk who assisted with the surveys. The whole team is especially grateful for the help of many agencies and activists in the disability and the domestic violence fields, at both the practice and strategy level. These included respondents to the domestic violence and disability national surveys, key stake-holder interviewees, good practice and strategy level experts, and interviewees from good practice case study projects. In particular, special thanks to Jacky Gruhn, a Health and Social Care Commissioner for Disability Services. Most of all, our heartfelt thanks to the disabled women domestic violence survivors who participated as advisers, and in focus groups, workshops and interviews. Their moving stories and generosity in being part of this project have been key to the work. We hope that their advice and recommendations as to what is needed to improve the services for abused disabled women will be realised. Ravi Thiara, Gill Hague, Pauline Magowan, Researchers Audrey Mullender, Research Consultant 7 Project note Note: In this report, the two surveys of domestic violence and disability organisations which were conducted as part of the study are presented in an abbreviated form. They have already been reported fully. The initial project report was published by Women’s Aid in 2007, and should be used for a comprehensive discussion of the issues arising. The initial project report: Hague, G., Thiara, R. and McGowan, P. (2007), Making the Links: Disabled Women and Domestic Violence, published at www.womensaid.org.uk, and also at: www.bris.ac.uk/vawrg and www.warwick.ac.uk/shss/swell, Various papers are also available, for example: Hague, G., Thiara, R., Magowan, P. with Mullender, A. (2007) ‘Making the Links: Disabled Women and Domestic Violence’, Safe: The domestic abuse quarterly, 22, summer. 8 Chapter 1: Introduction This is the final report on the first ever national UK study of the needs of disabled women experiencing domestic violence and of the services available to meet these needs. For many years, Women’s Aid, together with many disabled women activists and some disability organisations, has recognised the lack in the UK both of national research, and of systematic services and policies, on disability and domestic abuse. In attempting to address this issue, however, it proved very difficult over a long period in the 1990s and 2000s to raise any national funding at all, in either the academic or the policy fields. After several years of effort, Women’s Aid was finally able to secure funding in 2005, through the generous sponsorship of the Big Lottery Fund, to conduct this study on the needs of abused, disabled women, and on the effectiveness of services provided. The Violence Against Women Research Group at the University of Bristol and the Centre for the Study of Safety and Well-being at the University of Warwick were commissioned to conduct the research. Both of these UK research groups work on issues of gender violence within an activist and feminist frame, and attempt, whenever possible, to raise the voices and views of women survivors and their children. 1.1 A political issue: the social model versus the medical model Ways in which disability is defined and explained are highly contested between the medical model in which disabled people are viewed only in terms of impairments or medical conditions and assumed dependency, and the social model which argues that the problems experienced by disabled people, and disability itself, result from socially disabling attitudes and practices.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pretrial Detention and Torture: Why Pretrial Detainees Face the Greatest Risk
    Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Human Rights Human Rights Implementation Centre OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVE Pretrial Detention and Torture: Why Pretrial Detainees Face the Greatest Risk A Global Campaign for Pretrial Justice Report Pretrial Detention and Torture: Why Pretrial Detainees Face the Greatest Risk Pretrial Detention and Torture: Why Pretrial Detainees Face the Greatest Risk Human Rights Implementation Centre Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Human Rights Copyright © 2011 Open Society Foundations. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-936133-45-1 Published by Open Society Foundations 400 West 59th Street New York, NY 10019 USA www.soros.org For more information contact: Martin Schönteich Senior Legal Officer National Criminal Justice Reform Open Society Justice Initiative [email protected] Cover designed by Judit Kovács l Createch Ltd. Text layout and printing by Createch Ltd. Cover photo © Brennan Linsley l AP Photo About the Global Campaign for Pretrial Justice Excessive and arbitrary pretrial detention1 is an overlooked form of human rights abuse that affects millions of persons each year, causing and deepening poverty, stunting economic development, spreading disease, and undermining the rule of law. Pretrial detainees may lose their jobs and homes; contract and spread disease; be asked to pay bribes to secure release or better conditions of detention; and suffer physical and psy- chological damage that last long after their detention ends. In view of the magnitude of this worldwide problem, the Open Society Justice Initiative, together with other part- ners, is engaging in a Global Campaign for Pretrial Justice.
    [Show full text]
  • JUSTICE for TORTURE WORLDWIDE Law, Practice and Agendas for Change
    JUSTICE FOR TORTURE WORLDWIDE Law, Practice and Agendas for Change October 2013 ii | REDRESS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. LAW AND PRACTICE ON TORTURE FROM A CROSS-REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE .................................................... 4 2.1. The context of torture ................................................................................................................................. 4 2.1.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.2. Victims of torture and ill-treatment .................................................................................................... 5 2.1.3. Perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment .......................................................................................... 10 2.1.4. Methods of torture and ill-treatment ................................................................................................ 14 2.1.5. Causes of torture and ill-treatment ................................................................................................... 18 2.1.6. Social and cultural dimensions ........................................................................................................... 21 2.2. Torture and ill-treatment in situations of heightened tension .....................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Presidential Documents 17685 Presidential Documents
    Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 64 / Tuesday, April 6, 2021 / Presidential Documents 17685 Presidential Documents Proclamation 10170 of March 31, 2021 National Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Month, 2021 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Sexual assault, at its core, is a devastating abuse of power—one that affects people of every age, race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, socioeconomic background, and religion. It is the responsibility of each of us to stand up and speak out against it, not only to improve the laws and services available to survivors, but also to change the culture and attitudes that allow sexual assault to proliferate. Together, we must work toward a society that upholds every person’s right to live free from sexual violence—where our institutions and communities commit to pre- venting sexual assault and sexual harassment, supporting survivors, and holding offenders accountable. The pandemic has exacerbated the already harrowing challenges facing sexual assault survivors by making it more difficult or risky for them to seek help. Victims may be reluctant to go to the hospital for a medical forensic exam because of the risk of COVID–19 exposure; rape crisis centers and other social service providers have struggled to maintain their services while adopting necessary public health protocols; and survivors are often isolated from loved ones, friends, or co-workers who might be in the best position to provide support. As we race to stop the spread of this devastating virus, we must strengthen our efforts to support sexual assault survivors whose suffering may be compounded by this pandemic, as well as by the economic crisis that has further undermined their economic security and taken a toll on service providers.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Addressing the Security Needs of Muslim Communities
    Understanding Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Addressing the Security Needs of Muslim Communities A Practical Guide Understanding Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Addressing the Security Needs of Muslim Communities A Practical Guide Published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Ul. Miodowa 10 00-251 Warsaw Poland www.osce.org/odihr © OSCE/ODIHR 2020 All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may be freely used and copied for educational and other non-commercial purposes, provided that any such reproduction is accompanied by an acknowledgement of the OSCE/ ODIHR as the source. ISBN 978-83-66089-93-8 Designed by Homework Printed in Poland by Centrum Poligrafii Contents Foreword v Executive Summary vii Introduction 1 PART ONE: Understanding the challenge 7 I. Hate crimes against Muslims in the OSCE region: context 8 II. Hate crimes against Muslims in the OSCE region: key features 12 III. Hate crimes against Muslims in the OSCE region: impact 21 PART TWO: International standards on intolerance against Muslims 29 I. Commitments and other international obligations 30 II. Key principles 37 1. Rights based 37 2. Victim focused 38 3. Non-discriminatory 41 4. Participatory 41 5. Shared 42 6. Collaborative 43 7. Empathetic 43 8. Gender sensitive 43 9. Transparent 44 10. Holistic 45 PART THREE: Responding to anti-Muslim hate crimes and the security challenges of Muslim communities 47 Practical steps 48 1. Acknowledging the problem 48 2. Raising awareness 51 3. Recognizing and recording the anti-Muslim bias motivation of hate crimes 53 4. Providing evidence of the security needs of Muslim communities by working with them to collect hate crime data 58 5.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study on Police Misconduct in the United States Of
    A CASE STUDY ON POLICE MISCONDUCT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND AN APPLICABLE MODEL FOR THE TURKISH NATIONAL POLICE Izzet Lofca, B.A. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2002 APPROVED: Robert W. Taylor, Major Professor Peggy Tobolowsky, Committee Member John Liederbach, Committee Member David W. Hartman, Dean of the School of Community Services C. Neal Tate, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Lofca, Izzet, A case study on police misconduct in the United States of America and an applicable model for the Turkish National Police. Master of Science (Criminal Justice), August 2002, 122 pp., 4 tables, references, 174 titles. This study explores the underlying causes and deterrent control mechanisms of police misconduct in the United States. Outcomes of causes and control mechanisms constitute the basis for an applicable model for the Turkish National Police (TNP). Why is some police behavior deviate? What are the main determinants of police misconduct? Is police misconduct a result of sociological behavior and subcultural development within police organizations or a psychological behavior as an outcome of officers’ personal traits? What are the control mechanisms for police misconduct? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Do they deter or not? Is there a control mechanism that deters better than others? What is the best deterrence model for the TNP? ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper was a long time in coming to its conclusion, and there were a number of individuals who were instrumental in this endeavor in addition to the Turkish National Police which this study is sponsored by.
    [Show full text]
  • Pilot of a Diversity Leadership Competency Course for Graduate Students in Healthcare Administration
    Developing Diversity Leadership Competencies 273 ARTICLES Pilot of a Diversity Leadership Competency Course for Graduate Students in Healthcare Administration Valerie Myers, PhD Abstract Health services administrators need a range of competencies to manage diverse workers and serve diverse patients. This article describes cutting edge research used to create the theoretical foundation for a competency- based approach to diversity management education in the health services administration curriculum. Detailed implementation steps of the course pilot are provided, including pedagogical methods and outcome evalua- tions, which are largely absent from the diversity management education literature. Recommendations for refinement and replication of the class are also discussed. Introduction Sweeping demographic shifts are underway; the implications for patient care and the healthcare workforce are well documented (Gordon, 2009; Dreachslin, 2007; Myers & Dreachslin, 2007; Dreachslin & Myers, 2007; U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). In recognition of demographic trends, healthcare governing bodies have modified their expectations and requirements. The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) asserts that diversity management is both an ethical and business imperative; Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards (CLAS) (Department of Health and Human Services, 2001) and the Baldrige National Quality Program (2008) Please address correspondence to: Valerie L. Myers, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Health Management & Policy,
    [Show full text]
  • [I'd Start with Something Along the Lines Of
    Op-Ed on Sexual Assault Accusations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn While the recent headlines detailing both a hotel maid’s account and past allegations of sexual assault by IMF Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn came as a shock to some, for those who work with victims of sexual assault – and victims of workplace sexual violence in particular – these facts are nothing new. Sexual violence in the workplace is an all too common occurrence. It happens with alarming regularity across our country and is perpetrated by employers, supervisors, co-workers and third parties, such as hotel guests and other business clientele. Many victims are met with skepticism, blatant indifference, or with a myriad of victim-blaming excuses or accusations. Abuse of power in the workplace can manifest itself through cheating shareholders, harassing subordinates, and yes, sometimes by sexually violating someone with less power. In fact, tragically, far too often women who clean hotel rooms fall victim to sexual violence in the very rooms that they are paid to clean, just like the woman, an immigrant from Africa, who has reported Strauss-Kahn for sexual assault. Immigrant women are especially vulnerable to such abuses of power, whether working in hotels, agriculture, factories, homes or offices. Because they are immigrants and may have limited English language proficiency, fear of law enforcement, and are often isolated, few of these victims ever report the crimes that they suffer to law enforcement. If we want to end sexual violence we must assure that weak or nonexistent sanctions are not the norm. Law enforcement officials must be willing to believe victims when they make a report.
    [Show full text]
  • Choices Topic for October: Relational Aggression/Bullying/Cyberbullying
    Choices Topic for October: Relational Aggression/Bullying/Cyberbullying What is Bullying? Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose. What motivates a bully? Bullying is about social dynamics. It involves the abuse of power. It involves someone who knows How can you delete cyber bullying? how to get their need for love, attention, and Don’t write it! acceptance met through social dominance of a Don’t forward it! vulnerable target. Report it! Discussion Questions, Information, and Research Students: Parents, Faculty How does it feel and Staff: when another student What are your is saying negative family/classroom rules things about you? regarding your teen’s communication via the How do you know internet or cell phone? when to tell someone you are being bullied? How would you know if your child is being How do you keep bullied on the yourself safe from computer? cyber bullying? Are you available to What can you do if talk to if teenagers are you suspect a friend is having a problem with being bullied? bullying? What would you do What can you do if if someone threatened you suspect your you over a text or child/student is being online message? bullied? Resources: www.stopbullying.gov, http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/bullies.html
    [Show full text]
  • When Cruelty Is the Point: Family Separation As Unconstitutional Torture
    \\jciprod01\productn\H\HLC\56-1\HLC107.txt unknown Seq: 1 8-APR-21 11:06 When Cruelty Is the Point: Family Separation as Unconstitutional Torture Jenny-Brooke Condon1 The Trump Administration separated migrant children from their parents at the southern U.S. border in 2017 and 2018 knowing and intending that the fami- lies would suffer grievous harm. The President and other Administration offi- cials candidly acknowledged that they intended the threat of separation under the “zero tolerance” policy to deter migration. In other words, the cruelty of separation was the very point of the plan. In June 2018, a district court con- cluded that the policy violated parents’ due process right to family unity and association, enjoined the practice, and directed the reunification of families. That framing of the constitutional violation, however, failed to fully capture the scope of the government’s abuse of power and the depth of the harm that family separation inflicted upon parents and children. This Article draws upon Eighth Amendment and Due Process doctrine to articulate why the policy’s intentional cruelty and infliction of grievous harm constituted unconstitutional torture. This understanding of family separation as torture recognizes the intentional violence and abuse of power at the core of the policy and sharpens the claim to broad and meaningful remedies and accounta- bility. Emphasizing the defining cruelty of family separation resists its minimiza- tion within legal discourse and secures against similar abuses of migrants in the future. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................. 38 R I. THE MOTIVE AND HARM OF FAMILY SEPARATION .......... 43 R A.
    [Show full text]
  • Torturing the Law Jose A
    Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Volume 37 | Issue 2 2006 Torturing the Law Jose A. Alvarez Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Jose A. Alvarez, Torturing the Law, 37 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 175 (2006) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol37/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. TORTURING THE LAW Jos6 E. Alvarez t I. INTRODUCTION I accepted the invitation to address this symposium reluctantly. It is distressing that lawyers, whose lives are, after all, dedicated to establishing constraints on the exercise of arbitrary power, now find themselves address- ing a topic that involves the ultimate exercise of arbitrary power over an- other human being. Lawyers-of all people-should not be addressing tor- ture and cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment as if this were just another policy choice over which reasonable, civilized people can disagree.1 Yet the t Hamilton Fish Professor of Law and Diplomacy, Columbia Law School; Visiting Scholar, Pace University School of Law. This is an expanded version of a keynote address presented at Case Western Reserve University School of Law on October 7, 2005. I am grateful to Nate Lipscomb for able research assistance, to Diane Amann, David Bowker, Scott Horton, Irma Russell, Mark Shulman, Gregory Shaffer, and Detlev Vagts for helpful comments.
    [Show full text]
  • Animal Abuse As a Sentinel for Human Violence: a Critique ∗ Emily G
    Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 65, No. 3, 2009, pp. 589--614 Animal Abuse as a Sentinel for Human Violence: A Critique ∗ Emily G. Patterson-Kane American Veterinary Medical Association Heather Piper Manchester Metropolitan University It has been suggested that acts of violence against human and nonhuman an- imals share commonalities, and that animal abuse is a sentinel for current or future violence toward people. The popular and professional acceptance of strong connections between types of violence is beginning to be used to justify social work interventions and to influence legal decision making, and so requires greater scrutiny. Examination of the limited pool of empirical data suggests that animal abuse is relatively common among men, with violent offenders having an increased probability of reporting prior animal abuse—with the majority of violent offend- ers not reporting any animal abuse. Causal explanations for “the link,” such as empathy impairment or conduct disorder, suffer from a lack of validating research and, based on research into interhuman violence, the assumption that violence has a predominant, single underlying cause must be questioned. An (over)emphasis on the danger that animal abusers pose to humans serves to assist in achieving a consensus that animal abuse is a serious issue, but potentially at the cost of failing to focus on the most common types of abuse, and the most effective strategies for reducing its occurrence. Nothing in this review and discussion should be taken as minimizing the importance of animals as frequent victims of violence, or the co-occurrence of abuse types in “at-risk” households.
    [Show full text]
  • Handbook on Justice for Victims Was Developed in Response to That Resolution
    This Handbook was prepared by a group of experts from more than 40 countries at a series of meetings supported by the Office for Victims of Crime in the United States Department of Justice and the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands. The document was developed in cooperation with the United Nations Office at Vienna, Centre for International Crime Prevention, Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, and its publication was generously funded by the Office for Victims of Crime, United States Department of Justice. Foreword Crime takes an enormous physical, financial and emotional toll on its victims. On 29 November 1985, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (General Assembly resolution 40/34, annex) based on the conviction that victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity and that they are entitled to prompt redress for the harm that they have suffered, through access to the criminal justice system, reparation and services to assist their recovery. The Declaration recommends measures to be taken on behalf of victims of crime at the international, regional and national levels to improve access to justice and fair treatment, restitution, compensation and assistance. It also outlines the main steps to be taken to prevent victimization linked to abuse of power and to provide remedies for the victims. In May 1996, the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, at its fifth session, adopted a resolution to develop a manual or manuals on the use and application of the Declaration (Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/14).
    [Show full text]