Overview
- Presents decades of research including the 2019 NSW Law Reform Commission report
- First book of its kind to examine key reform issues associated with trial processes specifically
- Appeals to academics, students and policy makers in the area of sexual assault and legislative reform
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Cossins takes a new approach by examining the nature and effects of adversarialism on vulnerable witnesses, jury decision-making and the structures of power within the trial process, to show how, and at what points, that process is weighted against complainants of sexual assault, in order to make evidence-based suggestions for reform. She argues that this justice gap is a result of a moralisticadversarial culture which fosters myths and misconceptions about rape and child sexual assault, thus requiring the prosecution to prove a complainant’s moral worthiness. She argues this culture can only be eliminated by a radical replacement of the adversarial system with a trauma-informed system. By reviewing the relevant psychological literature, this book documents the triggers for re-traumatisation within an adversarial trial, and discusses the reform measures that would be necessary to transform the sexual assault trial from one where the complainant’s moral worthiness is ‘on trial’ to a fully functioning trauma-informed system. It speaks to students and academics across subjects including law, criminology, gender studies and psychology, and practitioners in law and victim services, as well as policy-makers.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Closing the Justice Gap for Adult and Child Sexual Assault
Book Subtitle: Rethinking the Adversarial Trial
Authors: Anne Cossins
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-32051-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-137-32050-6Published: 22 October 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-32051-3Published: 21 October 2020
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 719
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 21 illustrations in colour
Topics: Critical Criminology, Human Rights, Criminal Behavior, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law, Policing, Gender Studies