This chapter explores the parameters of the study of the crime victim, and the history and scope of the academic subdiscipline within criminology known as victimology. It discusses victimological perspectives; researching victims of crime; and the extent, nature of, and risks to criminal victimization. The final section examines public policy and practice, considering how and why ‘victim’ is a problematic concept in the context of compensation. It problematizes a number of taken-for-granted victimological concepts, such as victimization and crime victim. This section also shows that key concepts, such as victim precipitation, culpability, provocation, and ideal victim connect to particular ways of constructing the crime victim and understanding victimization.
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22. Victims
Pamela Davies
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10. Victims in the criminal justice process
Matthew Hall
This chapter examines the position of crime victims within the criminal justice system of England and Wales. It begins with an introduction to the development of the victims' movement in the 1970s. The chapter then considers key issues such as the scope of ‘victimhood’; victim rights; the needs and expectations of victims within the criminal justice process; and the policy response to such issues. It concludes by posing critical questions of the present reform agenda.