Overview

This five-year, interdisciplinary project investigates the role of trauma-informed care and neuroscience in transforming trial procedures, courtroom environments, and the treatment, questioning and wellbeing of victims of sexual violence. It will do so through an in-depth, empirical study examining the emergence of trauma-informed justice in the UK. This will include working closely with victim-survivors and UK government to evaluate the pilot of Specialist Sexual Violence Support (SSVS) project courts in England and the creation of a trauma-informed Sex Offence Court for Scotland. 

Literature on the nexus between health and justice tends to focus on defendants, recidivism, and the root causes of crime. This research will make a timely and important contribution to theory and praxis by exploring medico-legal interventions aimed at promoting procedural justice and wellbeing for victims of traumatic crime. It will locate the emergence of 'trauma-informed justice' among the literature on alternative justice theories and interrogate its manifestation in the UK from the perspective of victim-survivors.

The project commenced in January 2025 and will run until September 2029. Updates and outputs will be provided on the project website in due course. For further enquiries, please email the Principal Investigator, Natalie Kyneswood: natalie.kyneswood@csls.ox.ac.uk.

This award builds on Natalie's ESRC funded work on The extension of pre-recorded cross-examination in sex offence cases.