Certainly. I do know Ellen Campbell, and I know her opinion on this. I would agree with much of what she would say.
When a child discloses sexual abuse, it takes a lot of courage for them to do that. Generally it's something they have lived with for quite a long time--in some cases many, many years.
One of the key features for them in whether they will be able to recover and how quickly is what the response is. Do people believe them? Do they support them? Is the offender admitting and taking responsibility for this?
Many offenders will tell children, “If you tell, no one will believe you. I'll have to go to jail. You'll be taken out of the home. I'll be taken out of the home.” There are already seeds planted to make the child feel like it's their fault. If the justice system doesn't take the crime as seriously as the victim believes it should be, and the offender is not taking responsibility, then there isn't that feeling that he or she is being held accountable.
In one anecdotal example that comes to my mind, we worked with a young girl who is now in her early twenties. She came to us when she was 14. She had been abused for many, many years by a neighbour who lived across the street. He was an older person. He was convicted and he received probation, and they both went home from court together to their respective houses. He remained in his house across the street. He wasn't allowed to cross the street. He wasn't allowed to go to the same church. She went home, having gone through this process where she testified, which was a really difficult thing for her to do, and she saw him cutting his grass every day.
People learned about this. For her, there was no justice. She didn't feel that this person was held accountable. I can tell you many examples that are similar to that.
I think that if there isn't that sense of justice then it does a great disservice to children who have been victimized.