Services for victims of sexual offences
The research project
The research is twofold:
The experience of sexual violence victims of submitting a charge with the police and accepting an interview with a psychologist after giving a report.
Experience of complainants and employees of the Police Commissioner’s Office of changed procedure which consists in notifying complainants of the District Prosecutor’s suspension of sexual violence cases in an interview at a police station instead of the notification being sent via mail.
The purpose of the first part of this research is to examine the experience of sexual violence victims of submitting a charge with the police and accepting an interview with a psychologist after giving a report. To offer an interview with a psychologist after giving a report is part of an experimental project under the auspices of the Police Commissioner of Northeast Iceland, Akureyri Hospital, Health Care Institution of North Iceland and the Research Centre Against Violence at the University of Akureyri. It will be examined whether and then what may be done better when taking a report and the usefulness of being granted an interview with a psychologist afterwards. The results of the research will be used to assess the outcome of the experimental project.
The purpose of the second part of this research is to examine the experience of complainants of sexual violence of being notified of the District Prosecutor’s suspension of sexual violence cases by being summoned to an interview at a police station. In addition, the purpose is to examine the experience of employees of the Police Commissioner’s Office of this changed procedure; before this, a letter notifying of the case being suspended was sent to complainants via mail. This new procedure is part of an experimental project under the auspices of the Police Commissioner of Northeast Iceland, the District Prosecutor and the Research Centre Against Violence at the University of Akureyri. It will be examined whether and then what may be done better in an interview at a police station concerning the suspension of a case. The results of the research will be used to assess the outcome of the experimental project.
The two experimental projects under the auspices of the Police Commissioner of Northeast Iceland, Akureyri Hospital, Health Care Institution of North Iceland, the District Prosecutor and the Research Centre Against Violence at the University of Akureyri began on 1 January 2018 and it is assumed that they will span one year.
It is estimated that this research will begin in April 2018 and end in April 2019.
Researchers
- Dr. Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing
- Halla Bergþóra Björnsdóttir, Police Commissioner
- Agnes Björk Blöndal, representative of the Police Commissioner of Northeast Iceland
- Júlí Ósk Antonsdóttir, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law
- Karen Birna Þorvaldsdóttir, BA in psychology and Master’s student in health sciences
Collaboration
- Akureyri Hospital (SAk)
- Police Commissioner of Northeast Iceland
- Health Care Institution of North Iceland
- Research Centre Against Violence at the University of Akureyri