Book review: A Victim Community: Stigma and the Media Legacy of High-Profile Crime
| Author | Amanda Holt |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02697580221132569 |
| Published date | 01 January 2023 |
| Date | 01 January 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
148 International Review of Victimology 29(1)
This book is a timely and important contribution to the victims’ rights debate. Without clarifica-
tion of the Rome Statute or jurisprudence, the framework for allowing victim participation is
unlikely to change, meaning that the questions about who can participate, how they participate, and
whether and how reparations can be made will remain open challenges. The authors’ thoroughness
has allowed identification of the structural issues within the ICC’s framework for victim participa-
tion, which will be difficult to overcome. Calling attention to these issues will be likely to help
improve victims’ rights allowing for more effective and meaningful participation in the future.
ORCID iD
Michelle Coleman https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2615-1021
Nicola O’Leary
A Victim Community: Stigma and the Media Legacy of High-Profile Crime
Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, 2021; 211 pp.: ISBN 978-3-030-87679-1 (e-book).
Reviewed by: Amanda Holt, University of Roehampton, UK
DOI: 10.1177/02697580221132569
In A Victim Community: Stigma and the Media Legacy of High-Profile Crime, O’Leary aims to
expand the victimological imagination to incorporate local communities which, while not directly
targeted by high-profile crimes, are nevertheless impacted by them, often for years after. In her
opening chapter, O’Leary identifies a number of key high-profile crimes from around the world
which reverberated not only personally and socially but also culturally – for example, the shootings
at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris in 2015, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, the mass
sexual assaults in Cologne at New Year 2015/2016, and the car bomb and shootings in Oslo and
Utoya in 2011. However, with the possible exception of Utoya, none of these examples resulted in
the place name becoming synonymous with the crime. In the two case studies she then explores in
detail throughout the rest of the book, Dunblane (in Scotland) and Soham (in England), this process
has taken place, such that they have become ‘victim communities’.
The two case studies have much in common – both involved UK towns with relatively small
populations (of around 10,000); both of the crimes that took place there involved an adult male
perpetrator killing children, and both crimes instigated wide-ranging policy changes at the national
level (on gun laws and on child safeguarding measures, respectively). I did wonder what the ration-
ale was for selecting these two particular places for study, given their relative similarity, and I
wondered what analytical insights might have been produced if there was a comparison with a
rather different place (whether in terms of population size, type of crime, or its long-term impact).
I also wondered what particular characteristics enabled some (notably more populous) communi-
ties to ‘move on’ from their victim status while others (such as Dunblane and Soham) could not.
In her book, O’Leary draws on ethnographic data produced from spending time at each location
– visiting cafes, memorial sites, and other significant places of interest, as well as interviewing
community members. She supplements this with a content analysis of local and national
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