Criminal Injustice: Shortcomings of the System
This month, I met Su Hintz, Survivors of Homicide's court advocate, at the New London Superior Courthouse for the sentencing of a man who murdered his wife of three weeks. Meeting the family of this woman who was killed almost ten years ago now, one town over from my home, was positively numbing; after spending three hours with them in the courthouse, I realized I was particularly uneasy because I saw my own family in them. I saw my cousins in the victim's daughters, my aunt in her best friend, my grandpa in her brother.
Instantly upon meeting them, I saw exhaustion in their faces - ten years worth of stress, sadness, and frustration instigated by the death of their loved one, and prolonged by the shortcomings of the criminal justice system. In their case, at his trial the defendant had been found guilty by the jury of both murder and manslaughter, a judicial mistake which the Connecticut Supreme Court eventually found legally inconsistent, starting the process all over again. The family does not have to undergo another trial as the defendant took a deal, leading to this sentencing. However, it took a very long, painful journey through the criminal justice system to get to this point.
Deborah Spungen, a survivor of the murder of her daughter Nancy, wrote in her 1998 book "Homicide: The Hidden Victims" that co-victims are the ones who "represent the murder victim; it is the co-victim who deals with the medical examiner, the criminal justice system, and the media." The homicide of a loved one initiates a lengthy, difficult, and often traumatic process for survivors of enduring the cold procedures of criminal justice. The ordeal begins by one of the most horrific aspects of a murder for loved ones: the death notification. M. Regina Asaro, a psychiatric nurse certified in death and bereavement, wrote of the emotional distress imparted on families by the often insensitive delivery by officials of the news of the murder.
One woman was driving into town with her husband after receiving a phone call from a friend informing her that her son had been "injured." When they tried to cross a road blocked by the police, they were told: ""You people get out of here... get the hell out of here. We're dealing with a homicide." That's how we found out."
This is then followed by charges being filed - if the offender is caught - and the survivors are pulled into the criminal proceedings, where they quickly discover that "the state," not their loved one - whose name is rarely mentioned - is the official victim. Marilyn Armour, a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the Institute for Restorative Justice and Restorative Dialogue, found that one of the widespread themes seen in the experience of co-victims of homicide is a lack of individual rights within the criminal justice system. They feel invisible within the criminal justice system because murder is formally a crime against the state and not them, or even the victim. Loved ones feel patronized and barred from gaining information about their case, as well as a lack of control as the state's procedures and the public agenda take precedence.
Director of the Psychology Undergraduate Program at York University Jennifer Connolly and policy adviser Ronit Gordon have examined the experience of co-victims of homicide and also found that survivors face many difficulties when navigating the criminal justice system. They often experience difficulty getting information and updates about their loved one's case and are treated insensitively by criminal justice professionals. Most are unaware of how to navigate the unfamiliar criminal justice system, and they feel that it is structured to support the defendant's rights while they themselves have none. They sometimes are not notified when the offender's charges have been reduced or when they are up for parole. Survivors often report that police officers frequently give insufficient and untruthful answers and do not return phone calls.
Once in court, they are forced to face the defense, which presents a narrative that legitimizes the murderer and often paints the victim in a bad light, as someone of ill character who must have somehow been responsible for their own death. I witnessed this in New London, as the family was forced to listen to the defense attorney commend his client's work ethic, and the defendant himself speak to his loving relationship with the victim.
This assortment of struggles creates a disorienting and discouraging experience within the criminal justice system for co-victims of homicide, which not only frustrates survivors but also works profoundly to complicate and prolong their grief. Given the fact that criminal investigations and proceedings, especially for homicides, take a very long time to complete, the grieving process of loved ones is delayed and worsened by being dragged through criminal proceedings.
Ten years. A decade this upcoming June.
That's how long this family had been emotionally worn down by hearings, trials, appeals, countless court proceedings. Ten years before the person who took the life their mother, their sister, their best friend was officially held responsible by the Connecticut criminal justice system.
Many people hold the false belief that once the trials are over and the sentence has been given, families can at least then move on. This is not true: for survivors, there will never be any closure, provided by the criminal justice system or any other entity. However, even if it were true, the criminal justice system can only be regarded as practically abusive, for forcibly and actively extending and exacerbating co-victims' mourning for an unpredictable number of years.
The process of simply navigating the criminal justice system as a survivor is already painful, but it becomes worse still for many when it finally reaches sentencing. Survivors are generally dissatisfied with how the offender was punished - a 1996 study found that 79% of survivors thought the sentence given to the perpetrator in their case was not as harsh as it should have been. They feel powerless as the system decides what they believe to be too lenient of a sentence, and are ultimately "revictimized" when a plea bargain lets the murderer have a lessened sentence, or when appeals successfully grant additional trials.
This was the case in New London. Although the family recognized the success in finally getting a sentence, they were disappointed with the outcome of a plea bargain that resulted in the minimum sentence for homicide in the state of Connecticut of 25 years. The victim's children each expressed in their victim impact statements to the court that the offender had taken the life of their mother, and that his life should be taken from him as well, if only through a life of imprisonment. The survivors believed that the system had robbed them and their deceased loved one of true justice.
The event of an acquittal has a particularly profound impact on survivors, that further severely complicates their mourning. Dr. Darren Thiel, a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex, studied the impacts of acquittal on the families of homicide victims, and found severe implications if the offender is found not guilty by the judicial system. By not finding the perpetrator guilty, not only is some form of justice not achieved, but it also denies survivors a favorable outcome through the strong symbolic importance of the court's decision. The courts are capable of lowering the moral status of the offender and affirming the moral goodness of the victim; the criminal justice system can operate to acknowledge the innocence of the deceased and the status of survivors as victims themselves. However, in the case of acquittal, these things are never socially recognized. To survivors, acquittal represents public rejection of the victim status of their loved one, and by extension, themselves. It is essentially a denial that a murder even occurred. Survivors of homicide who experience an acquittal have to face "double injustice," of first losing their loved one to homicide, and then of the acquittal and no one being held responsible for it.
Witnessing face-to-face the emotional impact that the criminal justice system has had on this family instilled a greater appreciation of the duty Survivors of Homicide upholds. Homicide touches the lives of hundreds in Connecticut each year, many of whom are constantly re-traumatized by their experiences within the criminal justice system, and whom need advocates like Su to stand there with them through it all. As the organization advocates at individual court sessions with families, as well as within the government and public for larger, much needed systematic change that works to better support co-victims and accommodate victims' rights, Survivors of Homicide earnestly helps this invisible population in the best ways the system currently allows.
Sources:
- Armour, Marilyn Peterson. "Journey of Family Members of Homicide Victims: A Qualitative Study of Their Posthomicide Experience." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, vol. 72, no. 3, 2002, pp. 372-382., doi:10.1037/0002-9432.72.3.372.
- Asaro, M. Regina. "Working With Adult Homicide Survivors, Part I: Impact and Sequelae of Murder." Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, vol. 37, no. 3, 2001, pp. 95-101., doi:10.1111/j.1744-6163.2001.tb00633.x.
- Connolly, Jennifer, and Gordon, Ronit. "Co-Victims of Homicide: A Systematic Review of the Literature." Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, vol. 16, no. 4, 2015, pp. 494-505., doi:10.1177/1524838014557285.
- Thiel, Darren. "Moral Truth and Compounded Trauma: The Effects of Acquittal of Homicide Defendants on the Families of the Victims." Homicide Studies, vol. 20, no. 3, 2016, pp. 199-219., doi:10.1177/1088767915600200.