Document Type
Report
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
RAS ID
60337
Funders
Western Australian Office of Statistics and Research
Abstract
The Justice Facility Dog Pilot Program (JFDPP) was introduced to Perth Children's Court, Western Australia in September 2021 to improve the wellbeing of victims, witnesses and other Court users attending the Court for criminal or child protection matters.
As requested by the Office for the Commissioner of Victims of Crime, the program was evaluated by independent researchers from Edith Cowan University. The project was funded by ECU and Partial funding was sought and granted by the Western Australian Office of Crime Statistics and Research Criminal Justice Grant scheme to facilitate the evaluation (See Appendix J).
Short surveys were conducted at the Children's Court with children, caregivers and other court users to assess their stress and anxiety before and after interacting with the Justice Facility Dog, Winston. The results indicated statistically significantly lower rates of self-reported stress and anxiety for all participant categories.
Surveys were emailed to staff and stakeholders of the Children’s Court exploring the impact of the JFDPP on their workloads and their opinions about how the program impacted on the running of the Court. Results showed:
- The JFDPP did not negatively impact the running of the Court or Court processes.
- Respondents felt that the JFDPP met its intended purpose.
- The JFDPP reduced stress and anxiety in Court users and reduced tension in the Court waiting room.
Interviews were conducted with identified key staff and stakeholders from relevant business areas. Additional interviews were conducted to gain more in-depth insight with survey respondents who nominated to take part in an interview after completing the staff survey. Responses indicated:
- The JFDPP had not negatively impacted court processes or staff workload.
- The JFDPP has had therapeutic benefits to court users.
- An incidental finding was that in addition to impacting positively on court users, staff also stated they found their interactions with Winston to be beneficial to their own stress levels.
The evaluation found that the increased wellbeing of children, caregivers, other court users and staff, while not impacting upon Court functioning, met therapeutic jurisprudence principles.
Based on the findings, it is recommended that the JFDPP continue and be expanded to other suitable jurisdictions.
DOI
10.25958/f9qx-2743
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Rock, S., & Gately, N. (2023). Kids, courts and canines: An evaluation of the justice facility dog pilot program in Perth's Children's Court. Edith Cowan University.