Book review: Adversarial Justice and Victims’ Rights: Reconceptualising the Role of Sexual Assault Victims
| Author | Paul G Cassell |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02697580221104832 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book reviews 369
safety from violence. Examining UK immigration legislation and examples from post-migratory
survivors of genocide living in the United Kingdom, Asquith provides evidence that rhetoric and
practice of the United Kingdom as a safe haven do not necessarily align.
As evidenced in this book, genocide is not a matter of the past, and the threat of genocides has
not disappeared. Indeed, one might argue that despite the creation of laws and international institu-
tions intended to deter states, punish offenders, or provide justice for the victims of genocide, the
crimes of genocide and other forms of state-sponsored violence like ethnic cleansing still loom
over many people throughout the world. As Eski and Walklate note in their conclusion to the book,
scholars must continue to ask new questions, employ new methodologies, and incorporate new
disciplinary perspectives to expand the victimology of genocide. As they note, the recent global
resurgence of populism, ethnonationalism, xenophobia, isolationism, and political polarization
makes this project more urgent than ever. Ultimately, this volume makes an excellent contribution
to expanding the victimological imagination and deepening our understanding of the victimology
of genocide.
References
Hague E (1997) Rape, power and masculinity; the construction of gender and national identities in the war of
Bosnia-Herzegovina. In: Lentin R (ed.) Gender and Catastrophe. New York: Bloomsbury, pp. 50–63.
Mutua M (2001) Savages, victims, and saviors: The metaphor of human rights. Harvard International Law
Journal 42(1): 201–245.
Walklate S (2018) Other visions of victimisation and victimology. In: Walklate S (ed.) Handbook of Victims
and Victimology. New York: Routledge, pp. 329–333.
Iliadis Mary
Adversarial Justice and Victims’ Rights: Reconceptualising the Role of Sexual
Assault Victims
Routledge: Oxon, 2020; 209 pp.: ISBN 9780367204181.
Reviewed by: Paul G Cassell , University of Utah, USA
DOI: 10.1177/02697580221104832
In Adversarial Justice and Victims’ Rights: Reconceptualising the Role of Sexual Assault Victims,
Dr Mary Iliadis insightfully explores sexual assault victim–focused reforms from England and
Wales, Ireland, and South Australia. These reforms help to meet the participatory needs of sexual
assault victims while protecting established interests in the criminal justice system. She effectively
contends that successful victims’ reforms properly reconceptualize victims not as mere witnesses
in criminal proceedings but rather as participants with important interests deserving protection.
Dr Iliadis’ perceptive book consists of eight chapters. After a brief introductory chapter framing
the problem of victims’ rights in sexual assault cases, Chapter 2 sets out sexual assault victims’
interests in criminal cases. The fundamental problem is that emerging victims’ rights create a ‘tri-
angulation of interests’ between the State, defendants and victims. As more complete consideration
of victims’ interests has emerged in recent years, triangulating among the competing concerns has
become not only more complicated but more important.
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