Source: (2014) Utrecht Law Review. 10(4):86-99.
In the past decades, many nations have taken measures to increase victim participation in their criminal
justice systems. One of the main challenges for policymakers has been to determine to what extent crime
victims should be included in criminal trials. Criminal proceedings representing a delicate balance,
implementing victim voice within trial proceedings is no sinecure. Indeed, one can spell out the dilemma
of how to balance the victim’s interest with the standards of a fair trial.’ Nevertheless, the need to protect
victims’ interest is widely acknowledged. Indeed, temporary criminal policy is strongly associated with
procedural justice, emphasising the need for victim voice. In pursuit of positive evaluations of (the
outcomes of) legal proceedings procedural arrangements were introduced.2 In this paper we will discuss
three of these arrangements: the Victim Impact Statement (hereafter: VIS), the Victim Statement of
Opinion (hereafter: VSO) and the ‘new kid on the block’: the Dutch adviesrecht. (excerpt)
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