From the outset, the AQPV has campaigned to ensure that the voices of victims of crimes committed by minors are heard. Briefs, presentations, conferences, workshops, study days… On many occasions and in various forums, the AQPV has pleaded for:
- greater recognition of their rights;
- their needs for information, compensation, protection and redress;
- improving the practices and interventions of the various people who work in the criminal and psychosocial fields and who are called upon to cross the path of victims at one time or another.
Almost three decades later, where do we stand? This issue of Les Cahiers de PV attempts to answer that question. However, the production of this issue has been hampered by a number of obstacles, symptomatic of two major difficulties. First, that of taking into account the interests of victims of crimes committed by minors. Secondly, to recognize and facilitate access to their rights and remedies.
As Arlène Gaudreault points out in one of the articles in this issue, another obstacle is the scarcity of data on the trajectory of victims of crime committed by young people:
” Clearly, we lack research-based data. Who are the victims of young offenders? Are they mainly young people or adults? What types of crime do they suffer, and what are the repercussions? What are their particular needs, and how are they met? What services do they receive? We have no answers to these questions. ”
Despite this difficult context, this dossier attempts to explore different facets of this issue:
- the place of the victim in the juvenile justice system, particularly in the context of a pre-sentence report or mediation;
- sexual assault by a sibling;
- prevention approaches to young people’s romantic relationships;
- parents who are victims of their children’s violence;
- cyberbullying.
Let’s hope that this edition will provide food for thought on this subject, and above all that it will help improve practices and interventions with victims.