Justice Work - Sisters (having to) Do It for Themselves

This paper outlines findings from our research which sought to explore the lived experiences of victim/survivors of stalking and/or coercive control as they navigated their way through the Scottish Criminal Justice System (SCJS), commissioned by the Scottish Government. Building on the work of Acker (1990), Hochschild (1983), Fishman (1978), Kelly (2016) and Vera-Gray (2018; 2020) our findings show that women’s involvement as victim-survivors with the criminal justice system insists they perform elements of both hidden (behind the scenes) and visible (but unacknowledged) work. These types of work replicate already identified elements of emotional, safety and violence work. In addition, however, we uncovered a new form of work that women must undertake when seeking justice which we have conceptualized as ‘Justice Work’.The ‘Justice Work’ performed by victim-survivors had varying degrees of visibility and prominence but was essential for the progression of their case within the criminal justice system. Our analysis found that ‘Justice Work’ could take the form of three types of labour:

• Self-Education, Educating Others and Advocacy

• Identity Negotiation and Performance

• Investigation and Evidence Gathering

This presentation will gave an overview of each form of 'justice work'. We argue that such work is wholly gendered and should not be deemed necessary in a system where it is the responsibility and role of the criminal justice system to collate evidence of a crime. Women were juggling multiple roles and responsibilities during their criminal justice journeys, many of which added to the stress, trauma and disempowerment they felt.