Book Review: The Citizen's Guide to Gun Control
| Author | J. David Fine |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975809000100306 |
| Published date | 01 September 1990 |
| Date | 01 September 1990 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
288
were seen
as
supportive of those victims the police were reluctant to deal
with. Because police act
as
the gatekeepers to VSS through referrals, their
perceptions both of which victims need referral and of the role of the
schemes was crucial to their usage. The authors support more police
education on the needs
of
victims and on the work
ofthe
schemes,
as
many
officers surveyed were vague about these issues. Automatic and/or direct
referrals are now being considered in Britain.
The authors describe current initiatives in Britain and conclude that
rights can be given to victims without undermining the rights of offenders.
They argue that rights for victims should be established in at least four
areas: to be involved in the criminal justice process, to acquite knowledge
.
of
'their' case within that process, to be given financial assistance, and to
be given advice and support. They make the radical, and impractical,
suggestion that victim impact statements be considered after sentence, the
sentence being allowed to be adjusted down
as
a result of the statement,
but not up. Though this suggestion seems worthwhile in theory, given the
lengthy delays and backlog
of
cases in all criminal justice systems, it
is
very
unlikely to be adopted since the effect would be to aggravate these delays.
The book contains a summary at the end
of
each chapter, with
Chapter
12
giving a summary of the book thus far. These summaries are
invaluable for quick reference to the authors' arguments. However, the
reviewer found some of the chapters, .notably those on the south-west
research, rather turgid.
The book
is
a useful, well organised overview of the services for
victims in Britain.
It
makes its points clearly, particularly on the
differences between state and voluntary services. Its final recommenda-
tions are mostly predictable and do not address the impact
of
victims'
rights on the underlying theoretical basis
of
the criminal justice system.
That system was not established with the philosophical basis that regards
crimes
as
acts against individual victims, but
as
acts against the state. Thus
it can be asked whether the recommended reforms are intended to give
victims enforceable rights within the system
or
are merely responses to
victims' needs with no concomitant guaranteed place for victims within the
system?
And
do crimes cease to be acts against the state,
or
are they now
some amalgam of acts against the state and acts against the victim?
Jennifer A. David
Associate Professor
Bond University
THE
CITIZEN'S
GUIDE
TO
GUN
CONTROL. Franklin E. Zimring
and Gordon Hawkins. Macmillan Publishing Company; New York, 1987.
xv
and 201pp, Index. U.S. $17.95/£14.95p.
Approximately the first half of this book, chapters one through eleven,
succinctly summarizes the state
of
academic knowledge about the extent
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