Influenced by inner anger
Peter Garsden asks whether solicitors should be allowed to advertise for historic child abuse cases
In the February issue of Inside Time there was an extract from the Sunday Times complaining about solicitors advertising for childhood abuse claims to prisoners, and opposite it an article from a convicted sex offender called Chris Denning, in which he stated that in English Law there is no time limit in child abuse cases, which put certain elderly men in constant fear of arrest. As my firm was one of those quoted in the Sunday Times, I thought I should respond to both points so as to broaden the argument.
Frankly, it is a fallacy and often-alleged contention that advertising for child abuse cases provokes false allegations. Abuse of boys by older men, which make up 95% of our cases, is something which victims are intensely ashamed of. There is a stigma against the victims of past abuse, which leads people to believe, wrongfully, that the abused go on to be abusers. Often survivors of abuse are afraid to tell their own families for fear that they will be thought of as abusers, even though this isn’t the case at all. To disclose, in intimate detail, homosexual activity between two men is not a pleasant experience when the allegations are true. Why on earth anyone would want to invent allegations of abuse, and go through a psychiatric examination, which in itself can reveal untypical symptoms, is quite difficult to understand. Clients do not approach us saying that they want us to co-operate in the fabrication of false allegations against innocent men. If anyone were so foolish as to do this, ethics would prevent us from accepting the case. Needless to say it has never happened.
In response to the adverts, we often receive quite moving letters from prisoners who have kept secret details of abuse by family, relatives, strangers, and others, for decades. They are usually terrified that officers will read rule 39 correspondence (an oft repeated complaint), and ask us not to write but visit. They have reached a point in their lives where they have realised that a lot of their behaviour and crimes are influenced by inner anger against authority generated by childhood abuse. They want to sort their life out, and see making a complaint of abuse as coming to terms with the demons in their soul.
Sometimes it is not prisoners themselves but personal officers of prisoners, chaplains, counsellors, or other support workers who approach us on behalf of a prisoner, afraid to come to us direct. They make preliminary enquires on behalf of a prisoner to see what is involved. In the course of offender behaviour, or drug treatment programmes, prisoners are encouraged to look back at their life and influences. They often disclose the abuse, realise how much of their life is affected by it, and want to sort their life out. Therapists often encourage their patients to process a complaint of abuse because it is seen as part of the healing process. Exorcising the inner self-directed anger which most victims feel, and moving on toward some sort of psychological closure is what all survivors of abuse want.
Once victims have taken that first step to disclose even to a cell mate or counsellor etc. Pandora’s box is open, and try as they may, the demons will not go back into the box again. A good analogy is fire inside ice, fire being the inner anger, and ice being how the survivor appears on the outside, often deceiving those who interact with them.
So what of time limits. Firstly it is important to distinguish between criminal and civil law. The police bring criminal charges against alleged abusers on behalf of the public. Victims are witnesses. The purpose is to punish the offender. In civil cases the survivor is called a Claimant, and brings private proceedings against the abuser or his employer. In both types of law there are rules, which prevent some cases from proceeding because they are out of time or too old.
In criminal cases an accused can, and often does apply for an abuse of process hearing. He/she argues that the evidence is too old to subject him/her to a criminal trial, which could deprive him/her of his/her liberty. They argue that witnesses are dead or documents have been destroyed, which might have benefited their case and, as such, the trial should not take place. I know of many cases that have succeeded, such that alleged abusers never faced trial. Similarly, many cases move on to trial, when a conviction or acquittal is still possible.
At civil law the Defendant is entitled to argue, in a similar way, that the case should not be allowed to proceed because it is too stale, and a fair trial is not possible. The rules are complicated but always argued in our historical cases, particularly where we are trying to sue the employers of a dead abuser. They argue that they cannot adduce rebuttal evidence to counter the evidence of the Claimant.
In neither type of law are there any absolute long stops, i.e. a number of years beyond which no case can proceed. Why? Simply each is different, and must be tried on its own facts. For instance in one case the abuser may have written a letter of confession to his victim yet died. In another case there may have been a successful prosecution 40 years ago of the abuser even though all documents have been destroyed.
Sex offenders often groom their victims, entice them into abuse and cast a spell over them, which inhibits them from disclosing through fear of the consequences. The victim might be influenced by fear, disbelief, or the thought that he/she is to blame. Vicitms are often threatened by their abusers. For instance, if in care, they could be threatened with not going home, or a severe custodial establishment with a bad reputation. The silence often lasts for years.
It is often the shame, embarrassment and self disgust which act on the victim, preventing him/her for psychological reasons from disclosing. As this is the product of the abuse itself, how unfair would it be to prevent them from proceeding years later with their case, particularly when mental illness has stopped them from doing anything earlier. So disabled are the victims of rape that they are often not strong enough mentally to disclose until they have had some therapeutic treatment.
If there were a longstop provision that applied in all cases, it would prevent the court from examining each case on its own facts and judging appropriately.
Finally, there is something peculiarly circular about abuse. If the child in the care of government attempts to disclose abuse in childhood, and is not believed because of influence exerted on authority by the abuser, how wrong would it be if the same authority then prevented him/her from proceeding with a case many years later because of an esoteric fixed time limit rule. It is an act of repeating the same abuse on him/her, thus damaging him/her psychologically even further, and repeating the rejection all over again.
* Peter Garsden, Abney Garsden McDonald solicitors, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire. Email peter@abneys.co.uk Website www.abneys.co.uk and www.abuselaw.co.uk
Child Abuse
Child Protection
Law
Sex Offenders
Progress is threatened by cuts
Conservatives ‘want change’
All-white juries do not discriminate
Unexpected ‘special’ Legal Visits
Current page: Influenced by inner anger
250 prison teaching jobs to go
Petition to make trainee psychologists answerable to a higher body
Month by Month
Methadone concerns
Double invisibility
Twice the punishment
The forgotten victims
The best brains?
Doing Things Differently
Public persona … private person
Proactive progression
The inside story
POCA’s furry feline friends
Supporting evidence
Prosecuting Serious Fraud
Transfers from prisons to mental health units
War Torn
Cycles of the Planets
PSO Watch - It's political
insidetime
|
|
Issue : September 2010
Back Issues
Browse and Search Tools
View headlines by category
Search headlines | All headlines
Search mailbag | All mailbag
Search poems | All poems
September 2010 Headlines
£2bn Cuts
Guilty until proven innocent - historic cases
Prison psychologists - biased practitioners
What’s in your file?
Abuse of Process
Parole woes!
Recent developments in The Law of Confiscation
Month by Month
My Precious
Halden Prison, the stuff of dreams
The lamp must still burn
Sentencing review: what’s it all about?
‘Shout OXO’ before you die
What’s a ‘psychopath’, a ‘DSPD’ and should Peter Sutcliffe ever be released?
The innocence of prisoners’ children
Your Children Your Rights
The rules are simple, choose your own loophole
Lie detector tests and you
Rule 39 Correspondence - guidance
About Us
About insidetime
Directors
Editorial Team
InsidePoetry Book
The
insidepoetry book
is a collection of 213 poems by 202 prisoners of all backgrounds.
Availabe to buy from this site!
Subscribe
You can subscribe to insidetime Newspaper and get the paper each month delivered to your door!
Advertise
Advertise your business or solicitors office to a highly defined target audience.
Other Publications
Inside Time has produced a number of books and publications you can purchase online.
Contact Us
All contact info for the Operations office and the Editorial Team.
Site Map
Our site map page contains links to all pages on the insidetime site.
External Links
These links open external websites which you may be interested.
WikiCrimeLine
Banks On Sentence
insideinformation
Prisons
Everything you need to know about visiting people in prison; procedures, opening times, directions etc.
Comprehensive information about each prison regime; lock down times, facilities, healthcare etc.
insideinformation Book
Help and Support
Various pages of information for help and support organisations and networks for those in custody as well as recently released. Also information for friends and family.
Grants and Funding
This grants and funding pdf document aims to meet the need of prisoners and ex-offenders for accurate, up to date information on the supplementary funding available to prisoners.
Rules and Regulations
Information on rules & regulations used throughout the prison service.
Glossary of Terms
The Glossary of Prison Related Terms explains what all the acronyms and terms stand for with prison related matters. Includes links to external sites to further explain things.
Fact Sheets
We have produced many Prison Related Fact Sheets inc. Legal Fact Sheets, Parole Fact Sheets and Other related information.
Find a Solicitor
You can search our solicitor database for listings of solicitors in your area that provide the services you require.
Address Finder
You can search our address database in many ways to retrieve contact information for all those elusive addresses you need in a hurry.
Prison Law pdf
This document provides details of leading training providers who offer sound professional training.
Other Publications
Inside Information has produced a number of books and publications you can purchase online.
Site Map
Our site map page contains links to all pages on the insideinformation site.
Contact Us
Use the Contact Us Feedback form to send us suggestions, plus our address and phone numbers.