Éire-Ireland, 2020, 55(1&2): 252-278

What do survivors of institutional abuse need in order to feel that justice has been realized? How can a sense of redress—of jus-tice achieved—be measured? This essay explores such questions by describing the results of an empirical research study investigating Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI), which focused on physical, sexual, and emotional neglect in children’s residential institutions between 1922 and 1995. The research study, carried out primarily in Northern Ireland, provided detailed analysis of survivors’ interaction with the inquiry and sought to gauge victims’ needs and expectations revealed by their participation in the HIAI. Building on the limited research already done in the field, the study’s conclusions suggest that a survivor’s sense of justice and redress is affected not just by the original crime but also by her or his involvement in the criminal-justice systems set up to investigate such offenses. This study explored survivors’ justice needs constituting redress—including, for example, acknowledgment of abuse, attitudes toward apology, accountability, opportunities to tell their stories, and symbolic and financial reparation—as well as their assessment of the inquiry’s legal processes. (Opening paragraph). Record #6848