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CHAPTER EIGHT: VICTIM STATEMENT CONTENT ANALYSIS
8.1 In order to identify the type of information victims included in their statements, along with recurring themes, a content analysis of victim statements was undertaken. This chapter reports the results of this analysis.
8.2 A total of 160 victim statements were selected for analysis, drawn from all 3 courts (40 from Ayr, 65 from Edinburgh and 55 from Kilmarnock) and across the 2 year period of the pilot victim statement scheme. The statement makers were approximately equally split between males and females (80 male and 78 female). There were also 2 instances of a statement being filled in jointly by a male and a female. 128 A range of age groups were represented, with the oldest statement maker being 68, and the youngest, whose statement was completed on his behalf by his mother, aged one. A variety of offences were covered.
THE NATURE OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED
8.3 The victim statement form was divided into 4 main sections, covering in turn the physical impact of the crime (section 2 of the form); the emotional and psychological impact of the crime (section 3); the financial impact of the crime (section 4); and any additional impact that the crime has had that does not fall within the previous categories (section 5). 129 The accompanying guidance booklet Making a Victim Statement instructed statement makers as follows:
"Although you can refer to the crime, do not describe the circumstances of the crime as the court will hear about this during the trial. Only describe how it has affected you since. Don't include any views on the accused, or what sentence you think he or she should receive."
This instruction was repeated both on the front of the victim statement form and at the start of section 5 of the form.
8.4 The first part of the analysis focused on whether or not statement makers did indeed confine themselves to providing information about the impact of the crime or whether comments were also made about the accused or the nature of the sentence he or she should receive.
8.5 The content analysis demonstrated that some statement makers did disregard instructions not to include views on the accused, with a total of 45 statement makers (28%) making comments about the accused. This still means that the majority of statement makers (72%) did not do so, showing that, by and large, statement makers did stay within the boundaries of the scheme in terms of the nature of the information they provided.
8.6 Of the 45 statement makers who did make comments about the accused, 11 of these referred to things the accused had done before the offence; 13 referred to things the accused had done after the offence; 22 worried about the possibility of future reprisals from the accused; 5 expressed an opinion as to the sentence they felt the accused should receive; and 17 made negative comments about the accused's character. Four made comments stressing the accused's good character and 2 expressed concern for the accused. 130
8.7 Examples of comments describing previous conduct of the accused included:
"[The accused] is a very abusive person mainly verbal abuse sometimes very threatening behaviour" [female victim of theft by housebreaking].
" … it was obvious the youth was on drugs at the time (in my opinion)" [male victim of assault].
"During this incident I found out that the person responsible for biting me is an intravenous drug user, a known prostitute and was contagious" [male victim of assault].
"There is a history of the accused assaulting my partner whom he used to stay with. There is also a history of him damaging the house, breaking windows for example … [The local police] have been involved in many of the incidents in the past. [The local hospital] have details of injuries sustained by my partner in the past" [male victim of assault].
"I'm hoping my kids won't suffer like their mother now, I don't want to contemplate any longer on horrific memories as it's not just the first incident like this they've seen … Many more incidents were reported to the police previously over the 7 years I was with him" [female victim of a sexual offence].
"[Name of victim] has been attacked on 4 separate occasions by [name of the accused], all of which have been reported to the police" [male victim of assault].
8.8 Examples of comments describing the accused's conduct before or after the initial crime included:
"[The accused] is a constant offender" [female victim of housebreaking].
"After the attack I was threatened by the accused and this makes me feel worried" [male victim of assault].
8.9 Examples of comments worrying about reprisals included:
"I am scared to go out for messages in case I bump into him, because he always told me if I got the police involved he would kill me and burn my house to the ground" [female victim of domestic assault].
"His obsessive behaviour of texting, phoning, standing outside my flat made me very afraid and now I'm scared of what will happen after court … I feel very scared he'll come after me again since he told me afterwards that he wished he'd killed me" [female victim of assault].
"Knowing that my ex-husband is capable of anything it makes me paranoid" [female victim of assault].
"I think if the accused saw me again he would assault me again, probably using a weapon. I am also aware that if he is in the area he may vandalise the house or my car" [male victim of assault].
8.10 Furthermore, one victim [female victim of assault] only wanted to participate in the scheme after the accused (her partner) had been convicted. This suggests a reluctance to participate due to fear of reprisals.
8.11 Examples of comments giving opinion as to sentence included:
"I feel (not that it is my decision, it is My Lord's [the judge's] decision) that a prison sentence would take everything away from under his feet again and we would all be back to square one trying to help him" [female victim of assault].
"If [name of accused] is really getting help and not to drink I would really like the restriction order to be removed" [female victim of assault].
8.12 Examples of comments relating to the character (good or bad) of the accused included:
"I am certainly unhappy with what has happened to me at the evil hands of a junkie" [female victim of housebreaking].
"He is a person with no respect for women and feels he has done nothing wrong. He has contacted me several times to get me to drop the charges and not testify. He is very devious and cunning" [female victim of assault].
"I can even communicate with my brother now he has the help he needed. What a different person and character he has become, just like my brother I knew before he got into the mess with drugs" [female victim of assault].
8.13 Examples of comments expressing concern for the accused included:
"It's not up to us to pass comment on the attacker but there must be something more that could be done to help these people, something in the way of counselling or maybe something has made them like that from their past (who knows)" [female victim of assault].
"I have been preoccupied by questions of why the attack happened, fears of what might have happened if it had not been interrupted and paradoxically, by the state of mind and future prospects of my attacker" [female victim of assault].
RECURRENT THEMES
8.14 The second part of the analysis involved looking at the various effects being mentioned by statement makers. Table 8.1 shows the recurring themes and how often these were reported. 131
Table 8.1: Analysis of comments made by theme
| Total | Gender |
|---|
General fearfulness/insecurity/inability to cope | 65 | 26M 39F |
|---|
Unable to sleep/sleeping problems/nightmares | 62 | 30M 32F |
|---|
Afraid to go out | 44 | 20M 24F |
|---|
Depression | 42 | 21M 19F 2J 132 |
|---|
Fear of reprisal/recurrence | 39 | 17M 22F |
|---|
On medication | 37 | 14M 21F 2J |
|---|
Concern about effect on others (e.g. family members) | 30 | 12M 18F |
|---|
Work affected/time off work/unable to work | 28 | 14M 13F 1J |
|---|
Panic attacks/anxiety | 28 | 10M 18F |
|---|
Fear of seeing the accused | 28 | 12M 16F |
|---|
Social life affected | 26 | 13M 12F 1J |
|---|
Relationships affected (family, friends and/or partners) | 24 | 13M 11F |
|---|
Afraid of being alone | 22 | 5M 17F |
|---|
Loss of confidence | 20 | 11M 9F |
|---|
Left with physical scarring | 19 | 10M 9F |
|---|
Unable to concentrate | 17 | 6M 11F |
|---|
Loss of trust/suspicious | 16 | 7M 9F |
|---|
Afraid at night | 15 | 6M 9F |
|---|
Worsening of pre-existing medical conditions | 13 | 7M 5F 1J |
|---|
Having to/wanting to move home | 12 | 6M 6F |
|---|
Loss of personal/sentimental items | 11 | 7M 4F |
|---|
Fear of going back to where it happened/where accused lives | 9 | 5M 4F |
|---|
Suicidal thoughts/suicide attempts | 9 | 2M 6F 1J |
|---|
Financial loss generally | 8 | 6M 2F |
|---|
Afraid of crowds | 8 | 5M 3F |
|---|
Counselling | 7 | 2M 3F 2J |
|---|
Having to change locks/fit alarms etc | 7 | 2M 5F |
|---|
Degraded/violated/ashamed | 7 | 1M 6F 133 |
|---|
Anger | 7 | 3M 3F 1J |
|---|
Feeling like a bad parent | 7 | 7F |
|---|
Sexual performance affected | 6 | 4M 2F |
|---|
Unable to eat | 5 | 1M 4F |
|---|
Blaming self/victim 134 | 5 | 1M 4F |
|---|
Flashbacks | 4 | 4F |
|---|
Worry about court case | 4 | 4F |
|---|
Fear of what could have happened | 4 | 1M 3F |
|---|
Alcohol abuse | 4 | 3M 1F |
|---|
Dependence on family or friends/feeling like a burden | 3 | 2M 1F |
|---|
Self harming | 3 | 3F |
|---|
8.15 One thing that is clear from this analysis is that there was a tendency for statement makers to be led by the vocabulary being used in the rubric of the question. This is particularly apparent in relation to section 3 (emotional and psychological impact), where statement makers often used the words that appeared in the rubric as examples of possible emotional or psychological effects. There were frequent references to feeling generally "fearful" or "depressed", to a "loss of concentration" and to being "unable to work as normal", all of which were terms or phrases that appeared on the form. 135 For example:
"Yes, I do not have the ability to cope, I am very fearful, depressed, unable to concentrate. No, I have no social life at all" [female victim of assault].
"I feel depressed, fearful, suicidal, unable to concentrate" [female victim of assault].
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
8.16 Aside from the points made so far, a number of further general observations can be made about the content of the victim statement forms analysed.
8.17 First, there was a great deal of overlap between the various sections of the form. Statement makers did not stick neatly to the sections of the form provided for physical, emotional and financial effects. This may perhaps be due to the wording of the form itself, particularly in the physical section (section 2) where victims were invited to state how their injuries, "have affected or are affecting [their] day to day life". This may have prompted the victim to mention things such as not being able to socialise or work, which could just as easily have been accommodated under section 3 (emotional impact) or section 4 (financial impact) respectively. Several victims typed up statements on separate sheets of paper, rather than using the actual form, and dispensed with the section headings altogether.
8.18 Second, the space allocated to each of the 3 categories of impact did not correspond to the relative length of the comments made by statement makers. On the statement form, one and a half sides of paper were provided to detail physical impact, approximately three quarters of a side of paper was provided for emotional impact and approximately two thirds of a side was provided for financial impact. 136 For the vast majority of statement makers, however, the most detailed comments were made in the emotional impact section, with several individuals continuing their account on the back of the page or adding in extra sheets of paper. One statement maker [a female victim of assault] added 5 extra pages to the emotional impact section. The accounts of physical impact tended to be far shorter, with very few individuals providing more than half a side of information. This may suggest that the emotional impact of a crime is felt more keenly than any other. In terms of the implications for the design of the victim statement scheme, consideration might be given to changing the relative size of the boxes on the statement form (or perhaps even to removing the division of the form into categories of impact entirely). There may also be wider implications for the way in which victims are supported within the criminal justice system, but this issue lies beyond the scope of the research.
8.19 Third, the nature of some of the statements suggests that some statement makers may have been unclear about the purpose of the victim statement in terms of who would read the form and the use to which it would be put. Several victims asked for compensation for their injuries or damaged property, sometimes specifying that this should be provided by the accused. For example:
"I have been informed that my injuries, both physical and emotional do not meet the criteria for a criminal injuries claim. I do, however, feel I should be compensated in some way for the stress, strain and pressure put on me and my family as a result of this unprovoked drunken attack" [male victim of assault].
"Feel strongly that the culprit should reimburse me for the loss (broken watch, chain, bloodstained jacket) and promptly" [male victim of assault].
"I would like [name of accused] to sort it [her damaged car] because it is only right he does" [female victim of assault].
8.20 Other statement forms contained requests for further assistance, either in terms of emotional support (e.g. "Please help to resolve this and give us the help, advice counselling ( sic) whatever there is for us" [female victim of housebreaking]) or financial advice.
8.21 Fourth, a tendency for some victims to be vague about their injuries was noted. This was demonstrated by comments such as "bruising from head to toe" and "I was black and blue all over" [both female victims of assault] when reporting physical effects.
8.22 Fifth, some victims also expressed what might be interpreted as negative comments about the victim statement scheme. For example:
"One of the hardest things has been to take out these forms and complete! To write everything down is just refreshing everything and is like reliving the whole thing again" [female victim of assault].
"There was no physical injury and there will be no long term effects … Things were made up between [the accused] and [the victim] and things in the house were getting back to normal until this letter came in!" [male victim of assault].
8.23 Sixth, it is clear that some victims were using their statement to convey their belief that the crime in fact had no effect on them or to encourage the procurator fiscal to drop the case. For example:
"There was no impact to me and I have written a letter to say that I do not wish the case to continue if that is possible … Sorry for any inconvenience" [female victim of housebreaking].
8.24 There is some overlap here with those statement makers who expressed views that the accused is in fact of good character. 137
8.25 Seventh, and finally, the statements varied considerably in terms of the level of detail they contained and the care with which they were presented. At one end of the spectrum, it is clear that, for some victims, the form was used as a form of catharsis. Some of these statements were extremely lengthy and elaborate and great care was taken in their preparation (several were typewritten or word processed; one included a poem). Others expressed gratitude for simply providing the opportunity to make a statement ("I did not ask for any of this to happen to me and I suppose I will just have to live with it. Thanks for your help in this matter … I will also try to put this problem to the back of my mind and get back to a better quality of life. Thanks again … Financially, I don't know how things go for me but thank you for being able to put my side of the problem" [male victim of assault]). At the other end of the spectrum, some of the statements were extremely brief and focused solely on reporting the physical impact of the offence. There was no real correlation between the length and detail of the statement and the objective severity of the offence.
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