RT Article
T1 Exploring the Impact of Specially Trained Dogs on the Court Experiences of Sexual Offence Survivors in England and Wales: an Exploratory Case Study
JF European journal on criminal policy and research
VO 26
IS 4
SP 501
OP 527
A1 Spruin, Elizabeth
A2 Dempster, Tammy
A2 Mitchell, Susanna
A2 Mozova, Katarina
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1745592636
AB The current research explored the impact of specially trained dogs on the experiences of sexual offence survivors in an English and Welsh court environment. In total, five cases of survivors of sexual offences were provided with a specially trained dog during court proceedings. In each case, data were collected from several sources, including interviews, observations and various documentation. Using a thorough multiple-case-study design, data were analysed both within and across all cases to identify any individual and thematic patterns. The within-case analysis found that the dog aided survivors in becoming calmer and less anxious. The across-case analysis indicated five reoccurring themes pertaining to the survivor: (1) impact of court context, (2) emotional impact of dog on survivors, (3) physical impact of dog on survivors, (4) change in anchoring due to presence of the dog, and (5) the uniqueness of a dog as a companion. The findings also highlighted important considerations when utilising such services to support survivors at court. Overall, these results identified a large number of benefits not only to the survivors, but also their families and other supporting individuals, providing the first global evaluation of such service for survivors of sexual offence, which should aid in considering the introduction of this service internationally. It is thus recommended that the criminal justice system in England and Wales further explore the use of this service.
K1 Survivors
K1 Vulnerability
K1 Sexual offences
K1 Court
K1 Support
DO 10.1007/s10610-019-09419-1