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Road Victim Rights

Land Transport Act - seeking safer laws

The Scope Of Homicide  

"The toll is enormous. The magnitude of sorrow is incalculable." 

* "Non-negligent"; not caused by carelessness but by action. Taking substances then operating dangerous vehicles / machines would constitute "actions" not omissions.

Homicide is an outrage. It includes all deaths caused by wilful murder and non-negligent* manslaughter. It stuns, terrifies, angers, pains, frustrates, and mystifies society, which is repelled by its cruel indignity yet drawn to it as a never-ending source of voyeuristic entertainment. 

Homicide universally embraces our strongest emotions, our sense of justice, and our concept of death. Most singularly, homicide devastates and unhinges the lives of family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers, and acquaintances of the murdered victim.

We have come to recognize that family members and individuals who had special ties of kinship with murdered victims experience a complex and complicated range of reactions to the deplorable act of homicide. 

While the term survivor describes the circumstances that family and friends enter following the homicidal death of a loved one, the term generally used to describe the level and intensity of their reactions is "co-victims" of homicide.

A number of studies conducted on bereavement experienced after homicidal death indicate that co- victims of homicide experience vicarious trauma associated with murder.  

On psychological and mental levels, trauma refers to the wounding of one's emotions, spirit, will to live, beliefs about self and the world, dignity, and sense of security (Matsakis 1996). 

Co-victims find that their normal ways of coping and handling stress in the past are no longer effective. They are initially confronted by the helplessness and finality of the unexpected, unwarranted, and undeserved death of a loved one. 

The ensuing collection of perceived or actual insensitivities, indignities, and intrusions imposed by police, prosecutors, media, family, and friends constitute an additional wounding.

  Secondary wounding also occurs when the people, institutions, caregivers, and others to whom the trauma co-victims turn for emotional, legal, financial, medical, or other assistance respond by discounting, denying, and disbelieving (Matsakis 1996).

No one is exempt from the complexities associated with homicide. For law enforcement, homicide presents the dual challenge of regard for and attention to the investigation of the murder events while, at the same time, recognizing and addressing the overriding needs of co-victims of homicide. Law enforcement must become more attentive to the needs of co-victims and more collaborative with victim service providers.

To be more effective, victim service providers must be knowledgeable about reactions and needs of victims as well as the investigative and judicial processes involved in homicide cases. 

Great numbers of people have experienced the death of an immediate family member, relative, or close friend to criminal homicide, including violent deaths caused by drunk driving. 

This does not include the multitudes of people traumatized by exposure to reports of killings in the press. Most people have experienced, in a vicarious or second-hand way, hundreds, perhaps thousands of violent or traumatic deaths. 

As each murder is served up in the media for information, evaluation, or sometimes just entertainment, there remains a population of grieving and often forgotten co-victims of homicide who may be consumed by rage and saddled with pain. 

In order to understand the breadth and depth of homicide, it is necessary to recognize that (1) death by homicide differs from other types of death due to a number of specific reasons and (2) cultural attitudes toward death and spirituality influence societal perceptions of homicide. Just as there are unique physical, mental, emotional, social, and financial components to every sudden death, there are spiritual ramifications as well. 

Those who have never thought much about God before will often do so after a loved one has died under traumatic circumstances. Persons of faith who assume that what happens to them is God's will are forced to reshape their faith positions to incorporate the fact that bad things do indeed happen to good people (Lord 1996). 

We have been conditioned throughout the ages to accept that each life is destined for the inevitability of death, which is as natural and predictable as birth. The normal repetitive circumstances of death are disease and old age. 

When death is due to the unnatural circumstance of homicide, it is sudden and without forewarning. It is now widely accepted that there are specific elements associated with homicidal deaths that distinguish the impact upon the surviving family members from other forms of dying.

They include:

The intent to harm / disregard for life. One of the most distinguishing factors between homicidal death and other forms of dying is the intent of the murderer to harm the victim. Or with DUI offenders the extreme irresponsibility, disregard for life and very often the lack of any remorse in the aftermath. Co-victims must deal with the fact anger, rage, or undeserved violence has been inflicted upon someone they love.

Stigmatization. Society sometimes places blame on victims for their own death (serves to increase feelings of personal safety). This can translate into blame landing on the victim's family when it is believed that they should have controlled the behaviour that led to the death, "co-victims of homicide often feel abandoned, ashamed, powerless, and vulnerable" (Redmond 1989).

Media and public view. Regardless of public sympathies surrounding homicidal deaths, they almost never remain private. Co-victims are quickly thrust into public view and become fair game for public consumption. While some journalists exercise consideration and objectivity in their reporting of homicidal events, the degree of intrusion into the lives of co-victims of homicide constitutes a major homicide differential.

Criminal or juvenile justice system. Unlike family members of individuals who die of natural deaths, co-victims of homicide are the most likely population of victims to be thrust into a complex system of legal players and jargon.

Co-victims must quickly become acquainted with a world of crime scenes, evidence, and autopsies. Co-victims of homicide have much to learn about the investigative, prosecutorial, and judiciary branches of the criminal justice system in a very short time. They are often expected to quickly comprehend a system that may in some instances be insensitive and specifically designed to protect the rights of the accused (with little regard for the victim). 

In addition, co-victims may encounter many cognitive and environmental stimuli that remind them of the crime such as contact with the defendant and/or reviewing the traumatic details of the crime in the courtroom. This experience often results in the kind of avoidance behaviour that leads co-victims to cancel or not show up for appointments with criminal justice system officers or victim advocates.

Bereavement. As early as 1983, E. K. Rynearson, M.D., determined that bereavement after homicide is so prevalent that it deserved clinical attention. His clinical studies involving the family members of murder victims revealed that all of his subjects had previously experienced bereavement following the natural death of a relative; and the psychological processing of homicide was accompanied by cognitive reactions that differed from previously experienced forms of bereavement. 

Rynearson's research forms the basis for the shift from viewing the co- victims' grief issues separate and apart from the impact of trauma associated with the death of a family member. Traumatic grief over homicidal death distinctly differs from other forms of grief.

Homicide begins as an act. It is committed under individual conditions, within certain parameters, and eventually classified into general categories. Each case has its own circumstances that vary as greatly as each single act. Victim service providers working with co-victims should be knowledgeable about the general types of homicides. 

In order to explore the impact of homicide on the lives of co-victims, the trauma, grief, bereavement, and their resultant impact on co-victims must be explored. Grief is a normal response to loss. The word "grief' signifies one's reaction, both internally and externally, to the impact of the loss. 

The term arises from the grave or heavy weight that presses on bereaved co-victims (Simpson and Weiner 1989). One's response to loss is not merely a matter of feelings, but a highly complex and deep-seated human response. 

Professionals working with surviving members of homicide victims must be prepared for their personal intense reactions to the impact of homicide, which are often frightening. Such personal reactions can be more extreme than those experienced in working with other crime victims. 

Victim service providers must be aware that there is no fixed way or timetable for the victim's comfort and well-being to be achieved. 

Experiencing a wide range of responses that may continually resurface, co-victims of homicide sometimes feel that there is no recovery, closure, or healing from the ravages of homicide. While they develop the skills to cope with their pain, they live with an encompassing fear of strange, new reactions that control their behaviour. 

Their grieving process can be interrupted and delayed by elements and events of the criminal or juvenile justice system. Co-victims sometimes put their grief on hold to focus on the arduous task of seeing that justice is served.

"The cornerstone of the recovery process is the initial death notification." -- D Spungen

Co-victims of homicide report that the way they were informed about the homicidal death of their loved one affected their relationships within the justice system and their lives in profound ways from that moment on.