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Seen but not heard? Parallels and dissonances in the treatment of rape narratives across the asylum and criminal justice contexts
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Baillot, Helen, Cowan, Sharon and Munro, Vanessa (2009) Seen but not heard? Parallels and dissonances in the treatment of rape narratives across the asylum and criminal justice contexts. Journal of Law and Society, 36 (2). pp. 195-219. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6478.2009.00463.x ISSN 0263-323X.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2009.00463.x
Abstract
A significant proportion of women seeking refugee status in the United Kingdom will claim to have been raped in their country of origin. Even where this is not the sole basis of an asylum claim, it may be relevant to its determination. While criminal justice responses to rape have been the subject of extensive academic criticism and legislative reform, the processes of disclosure and credibility assessment in the asylum context have received little attention. This article explores possible parallels and dissonances in the treatment of rape across the asylum and criminal justice contexts, drawing in particular on the findings of a 2007 pilot study. It considers how problems such as the underreporting of rape, the inability of the victim to ‘tell the story’ in her own words, a hostile adjudicative environment, and the tendency to regard factors such as late disclosure, narrative inconsistency, and calm demeanour with suspicion – may be replicated and compounded in asylum cases. It also acknowledges the complex intersection of race, gender, culture, and nationality in this context.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Law and Society | ||||||
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | ||||||
ISSN: | 0263-323X | ||||||
Official Date: | June 2009 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 36 | ||||||
Number: | 2 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 195-219 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2009.00463.x | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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