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50 signatures reached
To: Justice Minister Naomi Long
Keep Counselling Notes Confidential & Scrap Good Character References
As part of our campaigning work against the epidemic of gender based violence, connected to our five point programme of action to tackle gender violence, we are seeking to help end the harmful practices of:
- Survivors' counselling notes being admissible to be used against them as evidence in judicial cases relating to gender violence
- Character references for defendants standing trial for Gender Violence / Abuse / Sexual Assault
Both of these practices serve to further silence, victim-blame and retraumatise victims and survivors. They reflect the misogyny and sexism engrained within the judicial system - they must go.
- We demand the Minister for Justice fully prohibit access to the counselling notes of survivors.
- We are calling on all counsellors / therapists to refuse to record information which could be used against their clients in a trial
- We demand the admission of ‘good’ character references in cases of GBV, abuse and SV be banned entirely
- We demand the Stormont Executive take immediate action to implement this change, as 7 years have already passed since the Gillen Review was published
Why is this important?
Why Therapy Notes should not be admissable as evidence against victims/survivors
As it stands, counselling notes can be used in court against a survivor of abuse if deemed relevant by a judge.
An abuser accessing the therapy notes of the person they harmed is a violation of a victim/survivor’s rights to healthcare. Counselling and therapy are an essential part of the healing process for many survivors.
Therapy notes are not evidence and should have no place in a criminal trial-they are only included as a way to dig up potential means to discredit victims of gender and sexual violence, a practice common in the legal system that is imbued with misogynistic perpetuation of rape myths.
Why ‘Good Character’ References should be banned in trials relating to Gender & Sexual violence
A key recommendation contained within the Gillen Review was the need for measures to be introduced at the outset of any trial to combat rape myths. The ongoing use of good character references flies in the face of this - as it is rooted in the false idea that someone who has ‘good character’ is incapable of perpetrating abuse.
Character references have NO place is cases of GBV. They are retraumatising for survivors, and hold no weight in determining if abuse has taken place. Abusers are often masters of DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim Offender) tactics. The Minister for Justice, Naomi Long, has said she will examine the issue as part of her department’s review of sentencing policy, but with the hope to change the legislation in the next Executive term. But we need action now.