October 2009 Responding to sexual violence A review of literature on good practice Authors: Elaine Mossman, Jan Jordan, Lesley MacGibbon, Venezia Kingi and Liz Moore Commissioned by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs Responding to sexual violence: A review of literature on good practice Elaine Mossman, Jan Jordan, Lesley MacGibbon, Venezia Kingi and Liz Moore Disclaimer This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Women‟s Affairs. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in the report are intended to inform and stimulate wider debate. They do not represent government policy. Published in October 2009 by the Ministry of Women‟s Affairs | Minitatanga Mō Ngā Wāhine PO Box 10 049, Wellington, New Zealand Phone: 0064 4 915 7112 Fax: 0064 4 916 1604 Email: [email protected] Website: www.mwa.govt.nz ISBN 978-0-478252-43-9 This document is available on the Ministry of Women‟s Affairs website: www.mwa.govt.nz/news-and-pubs/publications Contents List of tables .......................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... vi Executive summary .............................................................................................. vii Part one: Overview of adult sexual violence and good practice ......................... 1 1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Project overview ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Approach to reviewing the literature ............................................................................ 2 1.3 Structure of report ........................................................................................................ 3 2 Overview of sexual violence ....................................................................... 5 2.1 Terms and definitions ................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Nature of sexual violence ............................................................................................. 6 2.3 Legal framework for sexual violation offences ........................................................... 11 2.4 Victim/survivor needs ................................................................................................. 13 3 Overview and critique of good practice ................................................... 23 3.1 What does good practice relate to? ........................................................................... 23 3.2 What are the criteria used to judge good practice? ................................................... 23 3.3 What are the outcomes against which good practice is evaluated? .......................... 27 3.4 Who has the power to define good practice? ............................................................ 29 3.5 Use of good practice in this review ............................................................................ 30 Part two: Summary of the literature .................................................................... 31 4 Medical system .......................................................................................... 31 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 31 4.2 Sources of medical care ............................................................................................ 32 4.3 Forensic medical examination ................................................................................... 36 4.4 Follow-up medical care .............................................................................................. 42 4.5 Responding to the needs of diverse groups – medical system ................................. 43 5 Mental health system ................................................................................ 49 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 49 5.2 Crisis intervention....................................................................................................... 53 5.3 Post-crisis mental health care .................................................................................... 55 5.4 Responding to the needs of diverse groups – mental health .................................... 58 iii 6 Criminal justice system ............................................................................ 63 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 63 6.2 Police practices and initiatives ................................................................................... 64 6.3 Prosecutors and the prosecution service ................................................................... 76 6.4 Specialist courts ......................................................................................................... 80 6.5 Criminal justice system victim advocates .................................................................. 82 6.6 Statutory reform ......................................................................................................... 84 6.7 Restorative justice debate .......................................................................................... 89 6.8 Responding to the needs of diverse groups – criminal justice system ...................... 93 7 Support services ....................................................................................... 97 7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 97 7.2 Specialist sexual violence services ............................................................................ 97 7.3 Non-specialist sexual violence victim support systems ........................................... 104 7.4 Community collaboration ......................................................................................... 108 7.5 Responding to the needs of diverse groups – support services .............................. 109 Part three: Summary .......................................................................................... 115 8 Good practice services for adult survivors of sexual violence............ 115 8.1 New Zealand guidelines ........................................................................................... 115 8.2 Applicability to New Zealand context ....................................................................... 117 8.3 Good practice programmes and services ................................................................ 118 8.4 Common good practice principles for delivery ......................................................... 118 Appendix: Methodology – search criteria and sources of references ............ 125 References .......................................................................................................... 127 List of tables Table 1: Key issues for service delivery for victim/survivors from diverse groups ................... x Table 2: Access issues for victim/survivors who have disabilities .......................................... 19 Table 3: Key issues for service delivery for victim/survivors from diverse groups ................. 21 Table 4: Needs and priorities of different parties .................................................................... 28 Table 5: Māori and counselling ............................................................................................... 59 Table 6: Inquisitorial and adversarial justice systems ............................................................ 88 Table 7: Arguments for and against the use of restorative justice ......................................... 91 Table 8: RESTORE restorative justice programme ................................................................ 92 Table 9: Continuum of service delivery: support services. ................................................... 110 Table 10: New Zealand guidelines ....................................................................................... 116 Table 11: Good practice programmes and services ............................................................. 119 Table 12: Common good practice principles of delivery ....................................................... 121 List of boxes Box 1: New Zealand legal definition of sexual violation............................................................ 5 Box 2: Incidence and prevalence of sexual violence – measurement issues .......................... 8 Box 3: Promising practice criteria ........................................................................................... 27 Box 4: Good practice principles in the provision of medical services ..................................... 32 Box 5: Health outcomes of violence against women .............................................................. 33 Box 6: Good practice recommendations for hospital emergency rooms ................................ 35 Box 7: Good practice recommendations for primary health care providers ........................... 36 Box 8: Good practice principles for performing a forensic medical examination .................... 39 Box 9: Summary of Accident Compensation Corporation principles of good practice ........... 52 Box 10: Good