NCJ Number
245760
Date Published
May 2013
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This second part of a two-part series on the safeguarding of victim privacy, safety, and autonomy in domestic violence and sexual assault cases informs prosecutors about legal privileges that exist in the following relationships: qualified community advocate/client; clergy/penitent; psychiatrist/patient; physician/patient; spousal; and attorney/client.
Abstract
These privileges exist so that clients can speak truthfully about personal, and often painful, details to trusted professionals without fear that their most personal thoughts will be revealed, even under court subpoena. These privileged communications cannot be disclosed except under three conditions: the client gives express permission for the communications to be disclosed; the client waives the privilege; or there is a recognized public policy exception to the privilege, such as a duty to warn a third party of specified harm that the client is going to commit. This paper advises prosecutors to be knowledgeable about their jurisdiction's statutory privilege provisions prior to beginning work on domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, and human trafficking cases. This paper examines issues and conditions associated with each of the various types of privileged communications. It also discusses prosecutor strategies that can ensure victims' privacy needs are preserved at every opportunity while holding abusers accountable. Prosecutors may need to make accommodation in order to access confidential information from non-confidential sources, so as to achieve the goals of victim protection and offender accountability. 41 notes