Victims and Policy-Making : A Comparative Perspective

Victims of crime are now the subjects of intense policy attention and reform across most developed nations, whilst also receiving sustained attention at the highest levels of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and many other transnational organizations. Such moves have been fostered by the continued development of the international victims' movement and driven by a host of complex and interacting drivers which span jurisdictions. This volume sets out to contrast and compare the development of policies related to victims of crime and their place within the criminal justice systems in nine separate jurisdictions (the USA, the Netherlands, England and Wales, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa). Based on first hand interviews with those responsible for formulating such policies, as well as detailed grounded and document analysis across these jurisdictions, this book exposes the national and transnational policy networks surrounding victims of crime and, in particular, examines how the provision of victim care is becoming globalized. In so doing, it represents a rare comparative evaluation of the underlying rationales and influences which have influenced the creation of such policies and places them in their true global context.