Dr Mary Stewart1
1Northern Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, Australia
Biography:
Dr Mary Stewart works at the Northern Sydney Sexual Assault Service, based at Royal North Shore Hospital as a medical forensic examiner and is also a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, school of Law, exploring the patient experience of the medical forensic examination.
Abstract:
Victim-survivors of sexual assault rarely find justice in the criminal justice system. There is good evidence that the criminal justice system fails victim-survivors of sexual assault. Only 15% of sexual assaults that are reported to police in NSW result in charges; fewer than half of those result in a conviction. The primary reason that victim survivors report is to prevent a similar experience happening to others. Victim-survivors report that the criminal justice system is retraumatising and that their status, as “a mere witness in their case, entrenches their loss of agency”.
One aspect of the police investigation can be the medical forensic examination or “rape kit”. In NSW, this is provided through the health system as a trauma informed approach by a medical forensic examiner and a sexual assault counsellor. Victim-survivors are provided medical care, counselling support, the option of a forensic examination and documentation for police. Victim-survivors can have a medical forensic examination and collection of forensic samples, without police involvement, enabling them to make a decision about reporting and releasing to police at a later date.
Our research explored the outcomes for sexual assault victim-survivors who present to a sexual assault service in NSW. We explored their experience of the medical forensic examination through a patient feedback survey completed after the integrated response provided to recent victim-survivors.
Our research demonstrates that the health response provides validation and belief lacking in the criminal justice system and that the forensic examination itself is reassuring rather than being retraumatising.