Introduction

Lindsey Armstrong, of Hamilton, Scotland, was 17 when she chose to end her life after experiencing sexual violence. Bravely, and despite being ‘mentally and physically scarred’ by the rape, Lindsey reported the attack and was determined to put the rapist behind bars. Lindsey did all she could to this end, but after being forced to show the court the underwear she had been wearing the night of the assault, her parents reported she was absolutely mortified and so traumatised that she ended her life by taking an overdose of antidepressants. They also reported that Lindsey had felt she had been “raped all over again” during the two-week trial.

Of all the things wrong with this tragedy, the most concerning is how and why the criminal justice process led to this second instance of victimisation. This happened in Scotland, in 2002. This happened at a point in time where substantial research evidence was available as to the traumatic nature of giving sexual evidence in court (Sanders and Jones, 2007); when even more evidence was available as to how what a woman wears is completely irrelevant to her experience; when courts were aware of the need to protect children in the courtroom. Perhaps what is more tragic still is that Lindsey's story is by no means an anomaly or an exceptional case.

Lindsey's story then leads us to beg the question: if so much information was (and still is available), why has it had such little impact on policies regarding the protection of survivors of sexual violence? Why is it so hard to implement change to further reduce the experiences of secondary victimisation at the hands of the very criminal justice system which is meant to deliver justice and safety? To this day, what is known about the secondary victimisation of victims of sexual violence is neglected by actors from across the spectrum of criminal justice. Policy changes, such as, in Scotland, abolishing the requirement for corroboration, could go a long way towards minimising these instances of state-sanctioned violence on victims.

Like Lindsey, many victims of sexual violence find the trauma does not end with the incident itself, but may be drawn out indeterminately. For those few victims who do engage with criminal justice, secondary victimisation poses a serious threat to their wellbeing, mental health and, in some extremes, their lives (Orth, 2002).