NCJ Number
219632
Date Published
November 2006
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article offers an overview of the victims’ movement in the United States.
Abstract
The victims’ movement in the United States began as an outgrowth of the rising social consciousness that permeated the 1960s. The movement initially involved the influence of five independent developments: (1) the development of an academic field called victimology; (2) the introduction of State victim compensation programs; (3) the rise of the women’s movement; (4) the rise of crime coupled with a rising dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system; and (5) the growth of victim activism. A sixth influence was the call to respond to trauma, no matter what its cause. The author reviews each of the five main influences of the emergence of the victims’ rights movement in the United States before turning her attention to the growth and growing acceptance of the movement in the 1980s, a time when the President’s Task Force held 6 hearings and produced a final report with 68 recommendations for improving assistance to victims of crime. Finally, the author reviews the developments in the victims’ rights movement in the 1990s and beyond, which marked: (1) increased research contributions and advances in responding to victims; (2) expanded victim services; and (3) the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power and the “Handbook on Justice for Victims.” Although in jeopardy in the early 1990s, the work of advocates solidified the rights of victims of crimes by the end of the 1990s. The author cautions that although the victims’ rights movement has matured, there remain dangerous challenges to the fault and compassionate response to the plight of victims in the United States. Footnotes