Browsing by Author "Steyn, Janneke"

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    The essential need for empathy : a study evaluating the legislative provisions aimed at protecting domestic violence victims against secondary victimisation by the police
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Steyn, Janneke; Nel, Mary; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Law. Dept. of Public Law.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study sets out the broad context of violence against women in which we find ourselves in South Africa and then moves on to narrow that scope to the domestic violence context specifically. The study then reviews, analyses and critiques the applicable domestic violence legislation, namely the Domestic Violence Act and the National Instructions on Domestic Violence to be adhered to by the South African Police Service as well as legislation relevant to secondary victimisation of victims of crime within South Africa, namely the Service Charter for Victims of Crime along with its Minimum Standards. In order to study how these applicable legislative documents have found operation independently and in conjunction with one another and to what extent it has been conducive to protecting domestic violence victims against secondary victimisation by the police, jurisprudence is used to review practical examples thereof. By means of jurisprudence and commentary thereon such as academic authors, it is also possible to get a firm grip on the damage which may be caused by the police to domestic violence victims in the case of secondary victimisation. Research questions pertaining to the adequacy and thoroughness of the current legislative landscape to make provision for the protection of domestic violence victims against secondary victimisation by the police are possible to answer due to the analyses of legislative measures and jurisprudence described above.The argument made is that in order for domestic violence victims to possibly be adequately protected against secondary victimisation by the police, legislative interventions need to be explicit to this effect. It is also possible to read into legislatively implied standards that an approach of empathy together with explicit protective measures need to be motivated and advocated for in order for domestic violence victims to not only be protected from secondary victimisation by the police, but also for the police to be deemed trustworthy in the eyes of such victims in order to be able to address domestic violence as a problem at large.