Victim Rights: A Right to Better Services or a Right to Active Participation? (From Criminal Law in Action: An Overview of Current Issues in Western Societies, P 351-375, 1988, Jan van Dijk, Charles Haffmans, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-126687)

• NCJ Number: 126711
• Author(s): J J M van Dijk
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 25 pages
• Sale Source: Kluwer Law International
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: Netherlands

Annotation

Recent developments in the treatment of victims by Dutch police and criminal justice authorities clearly bear the mark of a service model.

Abstract

Some professional social workers interpret the problems of crime victims as a form of post-traumatic stress syndrome and advocate counseling or treatment. Lawyers emphasize the importance of procedural rights and free legal aid, while probation officers recommend offender compensation to victims as the ideal alternative to imprisonment. The procedural rights model contends that victims should play a more active role in the criminal process or in alternative judicial procedures. The service model views victims as a special target group for services or activities of police and criminal justice authorities. Arguments for and against both models show that it is difficult to have an absolute preference for either model. The provision of procedural rights, however, is perhaps more in agreement with contemporary society, since greater emphasis is being placed on the responsibility of individuals to look out for their own interests and solve their own problems. The choice of a model should be based on the potential benefit to victims and not on external, ideological, or financial considerations. A review of Dutch criminal law and victim services indicates a service-type response to victim demands. 79 references and 13 footnotes