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Where do English and Welsh victim-survivors of sexual violence perceive they might gain kaleidoscopic justice?

Olivia Smith, Tina Skinner, Melanie Channon, Rebecca Tarrant

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Abstract

McGlynn and Westmarland in 2019 developed a holistic framework for victim-survivor understandings of justice after sexual violence. The framework, named ‘Kaleidoscopic Justice’, highlighted the importance of six components: consequences, recognition, dignity, voice, prevention, and connectedness. Now, we provide the first examination of whether victim-survivors perceive different support services and the criminal justice system (CJS) as achieving kaleidoscopic justice. To do this, we analysed data from an English survey of 586 victim-survivors, using principal components analysis to generate an index of perceived kaleidoscopic justice, descriptive statistics, and thematic analysis on the qualitative responses. The research also tested whether kaleidoscopic justice indicators are related to measures of satisfaction with the CJS. The findings demonstrate that kaleidoscopic justice measures are indeed a good proxy for satisfaction with the justice system. They also suggest that victim-survivors were more likely to view specialised support services as providing kaleidoscopic justice principles. The paper ends with (a) recommendations to government to reorientate CJS responses towards kaleidoscopic justice and increase state funding of specialist support services, and (b) a call to explore whether kaleidoscopic justice could also be a valuable framework for other crimes and in other jurisdictions.

Original languageEnglish
Article number02697580251329945
JournalInternational Review of Victimology
Early online date9 May 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 9 May 2025

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the victim-survivors who participated in this study as well as Dr. Ellen Daly for her excellent research assistance on the wider project from which this paper arose.

Funding

The authors would like to thank the victim-survivors who participated in this study as well as Dr. Ellen Daly for her excellent research assistance on the wider project from which this paper arose. Funding for the research was provided by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria.

FundersFunder number
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria

    UN SDGs

    This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

    1. SDG 5 - Gender Equality
      SDG 5 Gender Equality
    2. SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
      SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

    Keywords

    • Sexual violence
    • criminal justice system
    • feminist theories
    • justice
    • victim-survivors

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Sociology and Political Science
    • Law

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