Victims of Crime

by Hall; Matthew

• ISBN13: 9781843923817
• ISBN10: 1843923815
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-01-01
• Publisher: Willan

Summary

Over the last thirty years, victims of crime have become a staple topic of media interest and policy-making discourse. Drawing on an extensive programme of first-hand empirical data gathered at some 300 English criminal trials, this book examines the practical outcomes of this reform agenda and assesses the meaning, implications and impact of the UK government's pledge to put victims 'at the heart' of the criminal justice system. The study also draws on in-depth interviews with barristers and solicitors, as well as court administrators and other Local Criminal Justice Board members. The book delves into the policy-making process behind these reforms, based on interviews conducted at key government departments, and offers a model for what a genuinely 'victim centred' criminal justice system might look like in the twenty-first century, drawing on the psychological and sociological literature on narrative responses to traumatic events.Key features include:hands-on analysis of the place of victims in criminal trials as they actually operate, based on extensive empirical research and data gathered first-hand at courtsthe development of victim-related policy-making placed into its wider, international and societal contexta systematic analysis of the occupational cultures of criminal justice practitioners when dealing with domestic violence and sex crimeuse of narrative analysis to understand the needs and expectation of crime victims becoming involved with the criminal justice system.

Author Biography

Matthew Hall is Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Law, University of Sheffield.

Table of Contents

List of abbreviations	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. x
Victims, victimology and policy-making	p. 1
Researching victims	p. 1
Victims in academia and politics	p. 3
Raising questions	p. 9
Methodology	p. 12
Book structure	p. 14
Victims in criminal justice: rights, services and vulnerability	p. 16
Victim 'rights'	p. 16
Facilities, services and support for victims	p. 27
Vulnerable and intimidated victims as witnesses	p. 31
Ways forward	p. 39
Victims of crime: a policy chain?	p. 44
Victim policies?	p. 44
Interpreting the 'policy'	p. 45
Victims and witnesses: shaping the 'policy'	p. 45
Politics, pressures and influences: deconstructing the 'policy chain'	p. 47
A policy chain?	p. 88
A narrative-based model of victim-centredness in criminal trials	p. 95
Storytelling and narrative	p. 95
Stories in criminal trials	p. 100
Victims' narratives and account-making at the heart of criminal justice	p. 102
Victims in criminal trials: victims at court	p. 116
The Witness Service	p. 116
Prosecutors and victims	p. 121
Wider facilities and information at court	p. 123
Waiting at court	p. 124
Domestic violence: 'one on its own'?	p. 143
Victims at court	p. 146
Victims in criminal trials: the trial itself	p. 150
Calling witnesses	p. 150
Giving evidence	p. 153
Reactions to evidence	p. 164
Special measures	p. 170
The impact of crime in criminal trials	p. 178
Victims and witnesses after trials	p. 186
Victims at the heart of criminal justice: principles or practice?	p. 188
Victims 'at the heart' of criminal justice: a discussion	p. 191
What would it mean to have a victim-centred criminal justice system?	p. 191
What factors have driven this 'policy'?	p. 216
What has putting victims 'at the heart' of the system meant so far in practice?	p. 218
Final points	p. 228
References	p. 231
Index	p. 249
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