Hearing the Victim: Adversarial Justice, Crime Victims and the State.

Source: (2010) Portland and Devon: Willan Publishing

In recent years, more attention has been paid to victims of crime, both in terms of awareness of the effect of crime upon their lives, and in changes that have been made to the criminal justice system to improve their rights and treatment. This process continues with legislative plans announced to rebalance the criminal justice system in favor of the victim. The purpose of this book was to bring together leading experts in the field to review the role of the victim in the criminal justice system in the context of these developments. The essays fall into two groups, each comprising five chapters. The first half of the book contains a series of chapters describes as ‘contextual’ in character. It explores the relationship that should exist between State and individual victim; summarizing recent policy developments; and discussing the politics of victims’ issues and the overlap between victim and offender. The remaining chapters of the book explore the role of the victim in the practice of adversarial criminal justice, beginning with the relationship between the victim and the prosecutor. It continues with an analysis of the treatment of victims in court, discussion of the results of a detailed study of the use of victim impact statements in homicide, trials in London; and explores victim input into the punishment of convicted offenders. (abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov).