The living victims of homicide: accommodating the needs and concerns of the co-victims of homicide within the Irish criminal justice system

McGrath, Anthony William

The living victims of homicide: accommodating the needs and concerns of the co-victims of homicide within the Irish criminal justice system

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DP 2009_MCGR The living victims of homicide.pdf(152.68 MB)

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Date

2009-10-01

Authors

McGrath, Anthony William

Publisher

University College Cork

Abstract

The effects of homicide fan out from the loss of life at the centre of the criminal event to an array of individuals that include parents, siblings, spouses, offspring, significant others, extended family, and friends. Aside from dealing with the traumatic intrusion of homicide into their lives, these co-victims find themselves immersed in the unfamiliar world of criminal justice, confronted at every turn with a paucity of information and assistance, propelled through a series of transactions tightly harnessed to institutional procedures and agenda, where trials, sentencing, appeals, inquests, and parole hearings become part of a protracted journey strewn with impediments. Most report negative experiences, finding criminal justice a forum within which their individual needs are immaterial, their handling characterised at best by neglect and at times by insensitive or harsh treatment. This thesis illustrates how the overall impact of homicide on its co-victims is of such magnitude that they must properly be regarded as victims in their own right, and questions how the Irish criminal justice system can best accommodate their needs and concerns by assessing the reforms championed by Advocates for Victims of Homicide (AdVic), an organisation helmed by those bereft by homicide who, having experienced that system firsthand and found it to be lacking, are best positioned to identify and campaign for the interests of this particular set of victims. The reforms sought and examined include the lack Of general and case-specific information; the use Of victim impact statements; potential interaction procedures with the public prosecutor; the sentencing standards for murder and manslaughter and the long-term administration of those sentences; and the overall treatment of homicide co-victims by criminal justice professionals. This thesis also proffers a number of practical recommendations to help alleviate the nesvative impact the legal system has upon homicide co- victims.

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Keywords

Homicide , Co-victims , Ireland , Criminal justice system

Citation

McGrath, A.W. (2009) 'The living victims of homicide: accommodating the needs and concerns of the co-victims of homicide within the Irish criminal justice system', PhD Thesis, University College Cork.