• Department of Justice

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18 April 2011The evaluation of the Sexual Assault Reform Strategy (SARS) commenced in August 2008. This report details the findings from the summative evaluation over the entire evaluation period.

The Sexual Assault Reform Strategy is made up of a complex web of strategies and processes designed to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system and therefore the experience of sexual assault victim survivors who report a sexual assault to the police. The unwritten assumption is that an improved experience for victim survivors will result in an increased reporting rate of sexual assault which is, as the Victorian Law Reform Commission noted in 2004, the most underreported personal crime in our society. A further unwritten assumption is that an improved reporting rate would represent a more just, equitable and safe society.

Based on all of the evidence considered for this evaluation, it is clear that the Sexual Assault Reform Strategy has started to make a real difference for many victim survivors of sexual assault and that the investment in the sexual assault reform is cost effective. However, it is also clear that more still needs to be done to ensure that access to the criminal justice system is equitable for all and that those who manage the process are able to maintain their level of specialisation. This is a journey begun, not a journey ended and now is not the time to ‘take the foot off the accelerator’.

The recommendations in this evaluation have been developed to guide the future direction of the strategy. The data in this evaluation report is presented in such a way that stakeholders can also draw their own conclusions about the impact of the reforms and what still needs to be done in their areas of responsibility.

Overall, Success Works has found that the Sexual Assault Reform Strategy has been an ambitious and far reaching reform designed to tackle the serious concerns raised by the Victorian Law Reform Commission in its 2004 Report on Sexual Offences. The evaluation finds that significant cultural change has commenced and that for many, but not all, victim survivors of sexual assault their experience of the criminal justice system is vastly improved. The evaluation also finds that two out of the three system wide objectives have been achieved – namely, a strengthened and improved criminal justice system response to sexual assault cases and the provision of improved support for and responsiveness to the needs of sexual assault victim survivors.