JIBS organises programme on Victimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice

The Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences (JIBS) in association with World Society of Victimology organised '17th Asian Post-graduate course on Victimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice'. The course highlighted emerging trends in criminology, victimology and promoted research in programmes for victim support.

Spanning across a period of nine days, the course was organised from July 2-3 on Fridays and Saturdays, with an aim to provide a comprehensive overview of emerging trends in victim assistance, criminology, victimology and promote research in programmes for victim support. Victimologists, criminologists, psychologists and legal practitioners from more than 30 countries from across the world were invited as resource faculty for this programme. The course also aimed at critically examining the laws, policies, and programmes from the standpoint of victim protection, rehabilitation, participation, and justice.

Inaugurating the programme, Prof (Dr) Sanjeev P Sahni, Principal Director, JIBS highlighted the various aspects behind criminal behaviour and the need for proper rehabilitation of victims. "The criminal justice system should not only consider providing justice to the victim, but also work on a victim- oriented approach which is holistic and goes beyond the criminal justice system," he said. "There has definitely been improvement in how police, judiciary and victim assistance groups are working if we compare to earlier times, but the conditions are far from ideal. There is a need to aware victims more about the judicial and policing procedures," Dr Sahni added. The speakers during the programme included world renowned names in the field of victimology like Professor (Dr) John Dussich, Professor (Dr) Gerd F Kirchhoff and Professor (Dr) Marc Groenhuijsen, among others.

Prof (Dr) Robert Peacock, President, World Society of Criminology and Michael O'Connell, Secretary General and Chair, UN Liaison Committee, World Society of Victimology- who are also course co-directors- delivered special sessions during the programme. They called for a need to promote research and scientific rigour on victim advocacy, legal clinics and outreach programmes for victim support services. Participants from 15 different countries attended the course. The course is part of JIBS' initiative to expand and strengthen interdisciplinary and collaborative research initiatives in the field of Behaviourial Sciences. 2It is pertinent to mention that JIBS is a value-based research institute of OP Jindal Global University and a member of the prestigious Academic Council on the United Nation System, dedicated to understanding, developing and applying human process competencies through continuous experimentation, research and learning related to behavioural sciences.