Victims of Crime - 9781843923817

Noting New Labour's pledge to achieve victim-centered criminal justice in England and Wales, Hall (criminology, U. of Sheffield School of Law, UK) explores what it would mean to truly have a victim-centered criminal justice system, the factors that have driven New Labour policy, and the current practice of putatively victim-centered criminal justice. Conducting ethnographic analysis of the place of victims in criminal trials, he argues that a victim-centered trial would allow victims to construct narratives of incidents and experiences and would be characterized by occupational cultures that are receptive and understanding to victims' needs, but finds that in practice the occupational cultures are geared towards the exclusion of victims. In terms of policy he argues that actions taken in the name of victims are generally undertaken for quite different political reasons and that victims have largely only received rhetorical attention. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)