Page 828 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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It is almost invariable that the victims of crime tend to be persons at the lower end of the wealth and power spectrum. People least able to defend themselves or assert their rights are often the people who are preyed upon. It is thus important that the state intervene and prosecute crimes. But in doing so the rights of the victims tended to be forgotten. It was in 1951 that an English magistrate first proposed the idea that the state ought to intervene and provide compensation when a person has suffered loss at the hands of a criminal where the criminal is either unable to be captured or is captured and prosecuted but is in no financial position to provide compensation.
That idea was first taken up, interestingly, by New Zealand in 1963, and by the 1970s criminal injuries compensation legislation came to be in place, certainly throughout the Commonwealth nations. But the victims' position still tended to be, perhaps, neglected. They were a bit player in the process. They were, in a sense, the focus of a prosecution - prosecution was always intended to, in a sense, validate what happened to the victim and to prosecute a person for their actions against the victim - but they played no important part in the process and they tended to feel that they were on the outer. They did not know what was happening. The process of a criminal prosecution is complex and, to a person not versed in the law, very confusing.
As the study of victims' rights and the concept of looking towards the victim have grown in the last 10 or 15 years, it has been generally acknowledged that it was the women's movement that provoked a focus on victims' rights. It was in the late 1960s and early 1970s that the women's movement began to agitate successfully, in a number of jurisdictions, for assistance and self-help assistance in the area of sexual assaults and domestic violence. Concepts such as the Rape Crisis Centre here in the ACT and other women's self-help groups really provided the first model of effective concern for a victim. It was the first acknowledgment that the victim needs to be assisted through the prosecution process, to feel they have a role in that process, and to have counselling, care and support.
As I say, the pioneering work that was done in that field was essentially from the women's movement. It has been established, quite clearly, that that was helpful in bringing offenders to trial, because it meant that women were more prepared to come forward and lay complaints. There is a lot still to be done in that field, and that is an area, of course, where there is support across this chamber. I am sure Ms Maher would be well aware of what is being done by the Government in that regard and what was being done by the Labor Government - and there is very little political difference in that area.
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