Book Review: Sexual Violence on Trial: Local and Comparative Perspectives
| Author | KELLIE TURTLE |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09646639221124182 |
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
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Trial: Local and Comparative Perspectives. Routledge, 1st edn 2021, pp. 271,ISBN: 978-0-367-40427-
7 (hbk), ISBN: 978-0-367-52131-8 (pbk), ISBN: 978-0-429-35608-7 (ebk).
The edited volume Sexual Violence on Trial: Local and Comparative Perspectives,is
framed by a highly contentious rape trial that took place in Northern Ireland in 2018.
Dubbed the ‘Belfast Rugby Rape Trial’, the case involved four rugby players two of
whom were Ireland international players, accused of various offences relating to the
alleged rape of a 19 year old woman at a house party in June 2016. Coming as it did
within a year of the globally resonant #metoo and #timesup movement drawing
renewed attention to the social power dynamics around sexual harassment and assault,
this case captured the national media attention in both the UK and Ireland, and led to
a saturated public discourse within Northern Ireland in particular as discussion of the
content of the nine-week trial became virtually inescapable. As the editors of this
volume deftly illustrate, while such intense examination of the case at times had a prob-
lematic, sensationalist and potentially re-traumatising impact for the public, it also pro-
vided a rare window into the reality of the criminal justice system’s handling of
serious sexual offence cases that many people might otherwise not have been aware of
(McFalone, 2021). The official state response was the commissioning of a comprehensive
independent review of the arrangements for delivering justice in cases of serious sexual
offences, carried out by retired judge Sir John Gillen between April 2018 and May 2019.
The book’s editors are explicit about the significance of the Gillen review and its findings
and recommendations for the development of this project. Having contributed to the
review through written submissions and hosting a conference at which many of the
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