Beyond Convictions: Negotiating Procedural and Distributive Justice in Police Response to Sex Crimes Victims

ABSTRACT

Justice for sex crimes is particularly complex due to the differences between victim needs and the operations of the criminal justice system. This study, using 70 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups from Canadian police departments, shows that Canadian police officers use characteristics from both procedural and distributive concepts of justice when responding and dealing with victims of sex crimes. We show that building trust, inclusion in the process, and upholding individual treatment needs are compelling components of police response that garner victim agency and satisfaction. As a result, victims are more satisfied with the process and outcomes of their cases, and through reconstructing success, so are police officers. Our discussion of a pluralistic approach captures how police officers justify and negotiate distributive and procedural justice in their responses to sex crime victims. Unlike research that focuses on the adverse treatment of victims, this paper finds promising changes in Canadian police officers’ conceptualization of justice for victims.

KEYWORDS:

• Policing/law enforcement
• sex offenders
• procedural justice

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful suggestions and comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We are aware that for some victims of sex crimes they prefer the term survivors. We acknowledge the right for individuals to choose how they articulate and express their experiences. We have chosen to use the term victim-survivor, with the exception of direct quotes.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Science Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant 2015-2017, and Western University Internal Grants.