Background to the Research

• Recently the experiences and suffering of the victims of the political violence in NI have received greater attention from government. Perceptions of perpetrators and victims are politically contested and suggest a division between the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' victims of the conflict.
• This article focuses on those subjected to paramilitary punishment beatings and shooting, and questions the ways in which they are viewed as 'deserving' of the violence inflicted on them. It argues that this view is perpetuated by the government's reluctance to address the issue, as to do so would have political ramifications for parties in devolved government and by the communities' backing of paramilitary activity in this area.
  

Research Approach

• A total of 40 in-depth interviews were carried out with those who had been subjected to punishment attacks. Four focus groups were held in different loyalist and republican areas to assess community perceptions of the 'alternative criminal justice system'.
  

The Nature and Extent of 'Punishment Attacks'

• Beatings are carried out using baseball bats, golf clubs, pickaxes, drills, iron bars, hammers and hurley sticks spiked with nails. Assailants aim directly at bones in order to cause multiple fractures.
• According to police statistics, between 1973 and the end of June 2000, there were 2,303 paramilitary punishment shootings (an average of 85 per year) - 43% of these were carried out by loyalists and 57% by republicans. During the period 1982 to the end of June 2000 there have been 1,626 beatings (an average of 90 per year) - 46% carried out by loyalists and 54% by republicans.
• Official data show that since the cease-fires of August and October 1994 there has been a significant increase in beatings, accompanied by a decrease in shootings. This has been accompanied by an increasing trend in 'exciling' - a demand to leave NI or face death. It is estimated that over 700 people were exiled in the 18 months following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
• The majority of individuals beaten are men in their twenties, with around 25% of those attacked under 20 years of age. The highest proportion of attacks occur in the urban areas of North Belfast, East Belfast, the Shankill and West Belfast.
• In 1999 - the first complete year after the Belfast Agreement - 206 beatings and shootings were carried out.
• It is thought that official statistics under-estimate the extent of punishment attacks by as much as 30-50%, mainly due to the reluctance of victims to report incidences to the police for fear of reprisal.

The Political Profile of Victims

• A Victims Commissioner was appointed in November 1997 by the Secretary of State to explore ways in which the pain and suffering of the victims of violence could be recognised. In April 1998, the Victims Commissioner reported a series of economic, welfare, counselling and support measures aimed at those with injuries or relatives of the dead, and the Prime Minister stated that £5 million pounds would be earmarked to support the recommendations of the report. A Minister for Victims was appointed.

'Deserving' victims of paramilitary violence

• During 1998/9 the number of violent crimes in NI rose by 21.2%, recorded crimes increased by 27.9%, and crimes against the person by 33.2%. Statistics for 1999/2000 show a further increase in these categories by 12.6%, 9.2% and 16.2% respectively. The Police Authority for NI found that in 1998/9 the performance of the police was not as effective in combating rising crime as had been anticipated. Communities perceive the police force to be thin on the ground, ineffectual and soft on crime.
• The role of paramilitaires as community protectors reduces their culpability as perpetrators of violence. Furthermore, the organs of the state and the media can reinforce the status of victims as deserving of violence.
• Those subjected to paramilitary violence receive little sympathy from either the police or their community. The RUC claim that it is frequently the case that those attacked have criminal records and do not want the incident investigated in case they themselves come under scrutiny.

Victims and the community

• The current policing and criminal justice system lacks credibility in many of the working class areas of NI. Many nationalists repudiate the authority of a mainly Protestant British police force, whereas loyalists criticise the ineffectiveness of the police in tackling crime. It is in this vacuum that communities turn to paramilitaries as an alternative way of tackling crime in their areas.

Conclusions

• Within the context of the NI conflict, the term 'victim' is highly contested, a shared view of victimhood becomes difficult to attain because the status of victims is distinguished according to a scale which reflects their political ascription in the NI conflict.
• 'Punishment attacks' are a form of violence which is insidious and downgraded by the perception of perpetrators as justified in their actions, which take place in response to demands made by the community for law and order in the absence of effective and legitimate policing. Yet paramilitaries use the informal justice system to exert violent control and further their own self-interests.
• Attempts have been made to address this problem through restorative justice schemes, however the endorsement of paramilitaries and the involvement of ex-prisoners has met with criticism.
• The victims of punishment attacks have become the expendable and legitimate targets for violence in NI. It is politically expedient to ignore these activities as the Belfast Agreement is premised on the parties adherence to democracy and non-violence and the Agreement may be in jeopardy if a link between the activities of paramilitaries and their political representatives were established. The culpability of victims derives from the communities within which they live, and their punishment is carried out by paramilitaries on behalf of the community.