This year more than 20 million Americans will become victims of crime. Very few will get the help they need to get their lives back on track. Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime presents a new approach, designed to help victims rebuild their lives now being piloted from Vermont to California by police chiefs, prosecutors, corrections officials, victim advocates and community leaders. Drawing on more than 30 years of criminal justice experience, including almost 8 years as executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, author Susan Herman explains why justice for all requires more than holding offenders accountable it means addressing victims' three basic needs: to be safe, to recover from the trauma of the crime, and regain control of their lives. With guiding principles and practical examples of how to respond to victims of any kind of crime, Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime provides a roadmap for everyone who wants to pursue this new vision of justice.

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.

Restorative justice has developed rapidly from being a barely known term to occupying a central role in debates on the future of criminal justice. But as it has become part of the mainstream of debate, so new tensions and issues have emerged. One of the most crucial issues is to find an appropriate combination of restorative justice, based essentially on informal deliberation, and the law. The purpose of this book is to analyse the several dimensions to this issue. It explores the social and ethical foundations of restorative justice, seeks to position it in relation to both rehabilitation and punishment, and examines the possibility of developing and incorporating restorative justice as the mainstream response to crime in terms of the principles of constitutional democracy. Amongst the questions it addresses are the following: How are informal processes to be juxtaposed with formal procedures? What is the appropriate relationship between voluntarism and coercion? How can the procedures and practices of restorative justice be combined with legal standards, safeguards and precepts? How can one balance restorative responses with legally sanctioned punishment? In this book a distinguished team of contributors consider this crucial set of relationships between restorative justice and the law, building upon papers and discussions at the fifth international restorative justice conference in Leuven, Belgium, in September 2001. restorative justice has grown rapidly throughout the worldthis book addresses the central issue of relationship of restorative justice to existing law and legal systemschapters from world leading authorities

The Routledge Handbook on Victims’ Issues in Criminal Justice is a comprehensive and authoritative handbook on current issues, with a distinctive emphasis on the delivery of suitable and effective services. The editor provides an introduction and conclusion to the handbook, synthesizing original contributions from current leaders in the field, surveying victims’ rights in the United States, victim participation in the criminal justice system, victims’ welfare and needs, and most notably the services that have been developed in response. A section on special populations in the United States brings focus to current and emerging issues faced within the country, while a section covering international and transnational victimization explores globalization and the implications of other legal traditions and systems. This handbook addresses the crucial and complex topic of victims’ issues, examining both societal and governmental reactions to victims’ concerns and acquainting readers with the issues that discord may cause, and how they affect the provision of services. This book will serve as an essential reference for academics and practitioners working with crime victims, as well as for students taking courses in victimology, criminology, sociology, and related subjects.

This edition provides up-to-date reports on criminal victimization including current trends, the emotional impact of crime, the needs and problems of certain victims, and victim participation in the criminal justice system.