Research proposes justice system overhaul for victims of institutional abuse
The academics behind the new research said they had highlighted 'shortcomings in current legal and justice processes' such as inquiries and redress schemes.
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The research was undertaken by Professor Anne-Marie McAlinden from Queen's University Belfast, Professor Marie Keenan from University College Dublin (UCD), and Dr James Gallen from Dublin City University (DCU).
The issue of historical institutional abuses in multiple settings has led to several investigations and redress schemes in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland over a number of years.
The research project involved interviews with 74 stakeholders, including survivors, legal professionals, and institutional (church and state) representatives.
It also drew on international experiences of justice responses to non-recent institutional abuses such as inquiries, redress schemes and apologies.
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The findings state that while conventional legal avenues such as inquiries and redress schemes are prevalent, they often 'fail to engage survivors meaningfully or address the systemic nature of the abuses'.
The research proposes a new framework of justice to 'bridge the accountability gap and improve outcomes for victims and survivors by focusing on healing, truth-telling, and institutional reform'.
It said that central to this new approach is 'increasing engagement between victim/survivors and institutional actors'.
The research calls for reforms to legal culture; truth-seeking processes and redress.
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Key findings and recommendations include:
– The adoption of 'trauma-informed approaches' and the use of plain, non-legal language to make legal processes more accessible.
– The transformation of 'truth-seeking processes via victim-centric approaches to inquiry design, modularised approaches to investigation which report findings sooner, and the consideration of alternative non-adversarial modes of truth-finding'.
– Recognising redress as a right and pairing it with 'personal, meaningful apologies'.
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Prof McAlinden from the School of Law at Queen's University said: 'This was a timely project which sought to examine one of the most important societal challenges of our time, how to deliver effective justice experiences as well as outcomes for victim/survivors of non-recent institutional abuses.
'There were high levels of engagement with the study by not only victim/survivors and advocates but also institutional actors and a clear appetite for doing justice differently.
'We hope that this research makes a significant contribution to these ongoing debates.'
Professor Marie Keenan from the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice at UCD said: 'From the outset we were determined to include all voices and listen carefully to the lived experience of victim/survivors and responsible institutional actors in church and state; examine the temporal challenges involved in non-recent institutional abuses and how these contribute to the responsibility/accountability gap, and, analyse the potential for innovative justice thinking influenced by restorative and transitional justice philosophies.
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'We found there is an appetite for a new way and offer suggestions as to how this can be done.'
Dr James Gallen from the School of Law and Government at DCU said: 'Addressing non-recent institutional abuses remains a pressing and ongoing challenge for societies globally.
'Several justice responses remain ongoing or in negotiations or proposals on the island of Ireland.'
The full findings are published in a new book, Transforming Justice Responses To Non-recent Institutional Abuses.
The three-year project was funded by the Higher Education Academy North-South Research Grant with support from the British Academy and an Arts And Humanities Research Council Fellowship.
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