Prior to the emergence of a victims' movement in this country in the 1970s, crime victims had only limited formal rights and remedies in the modern American criminal justice system. With the active encouragement of those involved in the victims' movement and guidance supplied by a national Task Force on Victims of Crime, convened by President Reagan in 1982, federal and state authorization of crime victim rights and remedies has increased exponentially in the subsequent years. In fact, it has been estimated that there are currently tens of thousands of statutes that directly or indirectly affect crime victim rights and interests, as well as crime victim-related constitutional provisions in a majority of states. The authors describe the constitutional and legislative provisions addressing the principal crime victim rights and remedies and leading judicial opinions that have interpreted them. In addition to presenting the current state of the law in this area, the text describes the status of implementation of these rights and remedies, relevant empirical research, and a sampling of pertinent policy analysis. This comprehensive portrait of the past and current status of crime victim rights and remedies in this country will inform the continued evolution of law and practice in this area. The third edition of Crime Victim Rights and Remedies continues to address the evolution of key crime victim rights (e.g., the rights to notice of and to be present and heard at criminal justice proceedings) and includes the state constitutional amendments, legislation, court decisions, and empirical studies completed since the second edition in 2010. Of particular note is an expanded federal section regarding each right and remedy in the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act, enacted in 2004, and court decisions that have interpreted the Act in its initial decade of implementation. The third edition also adds a new chapter concerning crime victim rights and remedies in the United States armed services and internationally.

In the new and revised 2005 edition of this outstanding casebook, authors Professor Doug Beloof, Judge Paul Cassell, and victims attorney Steven Twist review the expanding role of the crime victim in criminal procedure. Crime victims' law has been neglected in the education of law students even though it represents the single greatest "revolution" in criminal procedure in the last twenty years. The book addresses that neglect and provides lively and provocative materials about how victims fit into the contemporary criminal justice process. The casebook examines the role of the crime victim from the early stages of the criminal process (investigation and charging) through pre-trial discovery, plea bargaining, trial, and sentencing. The book includes not only recent caselaw concerning crime victims' rights, but also law review articles, victim impact statements, and other interesting materials. The authors provide the perfect set of reading materials for a full course on victims law, a seminar style discussion class, or supplemental materials for a conventional criminal procedure course. A teacher's manual will be available. "Every now and then, a book comes along that can truly be said to be a landmark in its field. . . . Victims in Criminal Procedure is such a book." --The Crime Victims Report on the First Edition

"Don't blame the victim" is a cornerstone maxim of Anglo-American jurisprudence, but should the law generally ignore a victim's behavior in determining a defendant's liability? Victims' Rights and Victims' Wrongs criticizes the current criminal law approach and outlines a more fair, coherent, and efficient set of rules to recognize that victims sometimes co-author their own losses or injuries. Evaluating a number of controversial cases involving euthanasia, sadomasochism, date rape, battered wives, and "innocent" aggressors, Vera Bergelson builds a theoretical foundation for reform. Her approach to comparative criminal liability takes into account the actions of both the perpetrator and the victim and offers a unitary explanation for consent, self-defense, and provocation. This innovative book supplies a practical and coherent mechanism for evaluating the impact of a victim's conduct on a perpetrator's liability in a variety of circumstances, including those that are now artificially excluded from comparative analysis.

This book provides a thorough account of victimisation across the social spectrum of class, race, age and gender. The second edition has been fully revised and expanded, with two parts now spanning the key perspectives and issues in victimology. Covering theoretical, social and political contexts, the book: Includes new chapters on defining and constructing victims, fear and vulnerability, sexuality, white collar crime and the implications of crime policy on victims Examines a global range of historical and theoretical perspectives in victimology and features a new chapter on researching victims of crime Reinforces your learning through critical thinking sections, future research suggestions, chapter summaries and a glossary of key terms Victims, Crime and Society is the essential text for your studies in victimology across criminology, criminal justice, community safety, youth justice and related areas.

'Focusing on key issues, themes and concepts within victimology, this edited collection provides an accessible and comprehensive critical analysis of crucial areas within victimisation. The main theories are related to, and integrated with, empirical research in an engaging style.' - Dr Anette Ballinger, Keele University 'This book achieves the rare feat of helping its readers without patronising them. The aids to the reader - tables, boxes, glossaries, questions, and suggestions for further reading - will prove genuinely helpful to students and their teachers, but they appear within a text that is theoretically informed as well as comprehensive and up to date in its coverage. It deserves to be widely read and used in the teaching of criminology, victimology, and criminal justice' - Professor David Smith, University of Lancaster, UK. Organized around the intersecting social divisions of class, race, age and gender, the book provides an engaging and authoritative overview of the nature of victimisation in society. In addition to a review of the major theoretical developments in relation to understanding aspects of victimization in society, individual chapters explore the political and social context of victimisation and the historical, comparative and contemporary research and scholarly work on it. Each chapter includes the following: - Background and glossary - Theory, research and policy review - `Thinking critically about...' sections - Reflections and future research directions - Summary and conclusions - Annotated bibliography Victims, Crime and Society is the essential text on victims for students of criminology, criminal justice, community safety, youth justice and related areas.

Taking a sociological approach, this reader addresses the diverse array of crimes against women and offers a compilation of research on this often minimized topic. Rich in conceptualization and theory, these readings tackle topics from the victimrsquo;s perspective and include media images, legal analysis, and official statistics. Material is presented within historical, legal, and social contexts so readers get a comprehensive understanding of female victimization. Throughout the collection, the causes of female victimization are examined, the responses from the criminal justice system are considered and the consequences for society are revealed.

Over the past two decades, violent crime has become one of the most serious domestic problems in the United States. Approximately 13 million people (nearly 5% of the U.S. population) are victims of crime every year, and of that, approximately one and a half million are victims of violent crime. Ensuring quality of life for victims of crime is therefore a major challenge facing policy makers and mental health providers. Helping Victims of Violent Crime grounds victim assistance treatments in a victim-centered and strengths perspective. The book explores victim assistance through systems theory: the holistic notion of examining the client in his/her environment and a key theoretical underpinning of social work practice. The basic assumption of systems theoryis homeostasis. A crime event causes a change in homeostasis and often results in disequilibrium. The victim's focus at this point is to regain equilibrium. Under the systems metatheory, coping, crisis and attribution theories provide a good framework for victim-centered intervention. Stress and coping theories posit that three factors determine the state of balance: perception of the event, available situational support, and coping mechanisms. Crisis theory offers a framework to understand a victim's response to a crime. The basic assumption of crisis theory asserts that when a crisis occurs, people respond with a fairly predictable physical and emotional pattern. The intensity and manifestation of this pattern may vary from individual to individual. Finally, attribution theory asserts that individuals make cognitive appraisals of a stressful situation in both positive and negative ways. These appraisals are based on the individual's assertion that they can understand, predict, and control circumstances and result in the victim's assignment of responsibility for solving or helping with problems that have arisen from the crime event. In summary, these four theories can delineate a definitive model for approach to the victimization process. It is from this theoretical framework that Treating Victims of Violent Crime offers assessments and interventions with a fuller understanding of the victimization recovery process. The book includes analysis of victims of family violence (child abuse, elder abuse, partner violence) as well as stranger violence (sexual assault, homicide, and terrorism).