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	Bringing Abusers to Book By John Burke Sunday Business Post July 18, 2011 http://www.sbpost.ie/newsfeatures/bringing-abusers-to-book-57525.html For many of the alleged victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic diocese of Cloyne, one key line contained in the report by Judge Yvonne Murphy into the handling of abuse allegations in the diocese summed up a wealth of bad feeling towards an agency of the state. Dealing with the role of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), James Hamilton, the commission wrote on page 82 that a number of complainants were "disappointed that their complaints did not result in a decision to prosecute". That sums up the mixture of "anger and frustration, but mostly incomprehension" of many victims, according to Maeve Lewis, executive director of victims' advocacy and counselling agency One In Four. The "incomprehension", as Lewis describes it, comes from not knowing why some allegations which seem strong do not lead to a conviction while others do. "The whole area is a nightmare," said Lewis, whose experience in the criminal justice system's treatment of those who claim to have been victims of sexual crimes extends back to the 1980s, when she worked with the Rape Crisis Centre. One In Four provided advocacy and advice to 13 of the victims of sexual abuse in Cloyne. The agency treats victims and also provides counselling to admitted abusers who come to the agency concerned that they pose a risk either through direct contact with children or via the internet or other means of access. All of those who contact One In Four are victims of historical abuse claims. Lewis compares the experience of One In Four's clients in their interaction with gardaí with the wider criminal justice system and the DPP's office. "In the main - in fact, to an overwhelming degree - the gardaí are courteous, sensitive, diligent and informed. They will come into One In Four's office to take a statement from a victim rather than ask them to go to a garda station; and they will try their best to keep the victim informed at all times, to the best of their ability, on what is happening with their case," Lewis said. The difficulties, of which there are many thereafter, begin when the gardaí have completed a file and handed it to the DPP for directions on whether to charge a suspect or to seek further information, according to Lewis. Since 1980, all cases of an alleged sexual offence investigated by gardaí must be sent to the DPP for direction. Prior to that, a Garda superintendent decided whether there was merit in the case or not. The same applied in cases of murder, attempted murder and manslaughter. More recently, that internal Garda rule has been placed on a statutory footing. Once a case is finalised by Garda detectives and a file has been sent to the DPP, it is the latter office which takes control of all aspects of prosecution and the handling of the case thereafter. "The difficulty with the DPP is that nobody knows why he arrives at a decision," Lewis said. "It would be very helpful if the DPP could give a reason for why he arrives at a decision not to proceed [with a sexual offence prosecution]." Hamilton has said that he would be eager to extend a current pilot programme - currently limited to select road traffic death cases - in which he gives a reason for not proceeding with a criminal charge. Informed sources in the justice sector said that Hamilton believed the sample to date was too small to evaluate, and the manpower needed to extend the system was too great. The DPP was unavailable for comment when contacted by this newspaper last week. However, at a prosecutors' conference Last May, he said his office was "in the process of examining how we might extend this project to decisions concerning other serious crimes, notably sexual crimes". But Hamilton also added that he would also be "examining how to find the necessary resources" to meet this extra workload. He said he was not yet in a position to decide when this might happen. Caroline Counihan, a legal adviser to the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland, said that, in many cases, victims of historical sexual abuse cases were "very realistic" when it came to their expectations that complaints might lead to the DPP pressing charges. "I've been surprised by people saying: 'I know it's been a long time and the chances might be slim'," she told The Sunday Business Post Garda guidelines insist that victims of alleged historical sex crimes must be made aware of the challenges which can arise in securing a conviction due to delay, the absence of physical evidence, and the age or other factors relating to a perpetrator's health and ability to defend himself. Irrespective of whether he extends the reasons project or not, Hamilton will retire this November, and his replacement at the DPP's office may ultimately be compelled to provide answers to victims of sexual assault, under an EU directive which Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said he wants Ireland to opt into from the start. As part of a proposal published on May 18 for a "directive of the European Parliament and of the council establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime", alleged victims should be provided with any reasons which "lead to the ending of the criminal proceedings instituted as a result of the complaint of a criminal offence made by the victim, such as a decision not to proceed with or to end an investigation or prosecution, or a final judgment in a trial, including any sentence". Whether this will remain in the final directive depends on whether Shatter wants to put this onus on the DPP, and also on whether there is support across the EU area for such a measure. However, Lewis said that the problems neither stopped nor started with the DPP deciding against taking a prosecution. Rather, she said, the experience of actually going through the criminal justice system could be even more traumatic. OneInFour has begun a forensic study into ten sample cases of abuse victims who went through the criminal justice system. Preliminary indications from that study show that, given the choice, none of the ten people would have made a complaint to the gardaí. In all cases, they said that the trauma of going through the criminal justice system had outweighed any positive benefit of coming forward. "The criminal justice system for victims of sexual offences is simply barbaric," said Lewis.
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