Securing Rights For Victims

This book discusses how some clinics have won significant gains at the appellate and federal court levels concerning victim standing, the rights to be consulted and heard, and the right to privacy. The authors conclude that the state clinics are beginning to fulfill the intentions of their architects and funders.

This book discusses how some clinics have won significant gains at the appellate and federal court levels concerning victim standing, the rights to be consulted and heard, and the right to privacy. Some have won significant victories in gaining standing for victims and expanding the definition of particular rights. Others are enjoined in the battle. But all have raised awareness of victims' rights in the justice system.

When the victims of injustice lose faith in their justice system, the crime they've endured cuts only deeper, adding insult to injury. The time has come to face the truth that most victims of crime will not have their needs met and often won't experience our systems of justice as just. This short book makes its readers experts in advocating rights for victims of crime. It empowers taxpayers, voters and (potential) victims of crime to make the case to rebalance justice and support victims. Written for the millions of victims of crime and their friends and families, it helps to transform an antiquated system of criminal and civil justice into a modern system that is just and fair, shifting from neglect to respect and support. While some laws in the USA and elsewhere do support victims by providing assistance, compensation, and protection from the accused, this book also sheds a harsh light upon their inadequate implementation. Police services must catch crooks but make victims their client. Courts must balance rights for defendants and victims. Services for women, children and elderly victims must be adequately funded. Restitution from offenders must be ordered and collected, not overlooked. Fair compensation from the state must change from a secret to a given. The prevention of victimization must be the budget priority not mass incarceration. Despite the speeches and the United Nations norms, governments still leave most victims of crime without basic information, support, and assistance, let alone respect and remedies in courts. If you are not yet one of those victims of crime, social responsibility requires you to ensure that your country's systems of justice are fair to those who are and for them, this book provides an answer.

This books demonstrates the difficulty of protecting victims of human trafficking from being held liable for crimes they were compelled to commit in the course, or as a consequence, of being trafficked, under current European law. The legislation remains vague and potentially inadequate to recognise victimhood, safeguard the human rights of victims, and avoid further victimisation. Muraszkiewicz explains how the non-liability principle is rooted in criminal and human rights law, and proposes a more efficient provision and framework which would protect trafficked persons, and do better to encourage victims to act as witnesses in criminal proceedings against the perpetrators. In doing so the book will provide relevant stakeholders, including policy makers and law enforcement authorities, with a better understanding of the non-liability principle and how it ought to be used in practice.