Book Review: Victims in the Criminal Justice System
| Date | 01 January 1990 |
| Published date | 01 January 1990 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975809000100206 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
International
Review
of
Victimology,
1990, Vol. 1, pp. 201-218
0269-7580/90
$10
©
1990
A B Academic Publishers-Printed in Great Britain
BOOK
REVIEWS
VICTIMS IN
THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. Joanna Shapland,
Jon Willmore and Peter Duff. Gower Publishing Company; London,
1985.
203
pp, hardback: £22.50; paperback: £10.50.
This book, the 53rd volume in the Cambridge Studies in Criminology and
the first under the series' new editor, Professor
A.E.
Bottoms,
is
a
welcome addition to the growing literature on victims of crime. As the
editor points out, the subject of victims in the criminal justice system has
for far too long been neglected by criminologists and by those responsible
for criminal policy, and
as
the authors state in the book's opening
paragraph, the lack of knowledge about victims
is
astonishing given that
the system would collapse if their cooperation
was
not forthcoming. The
book presents the findings of an empirical study conducted between
1979
and
1982
in two towns in the Midlands of Great Britain, Coventry and
Northampton. The aim of the study
is
to provide the victims' eye view of
their experiences, attitudes and difficulties
as
their cases pass through the
criminal justice system, including applications for compensation to the
various compensation agencies. The sample
was
taken at the point at
which the offence had been reported to the police and recorded by them
as
a crime, the victim being defined
as
the person recorded on the original
police crime report form
as
the injured or aggrieved party. This definition
held irrespective of whether victims defined themselves
as
such, and
whether or not they had reported the offence to the police or were
ultimately seen
as
victims by the police or the courts. The authors limit
their attention to those who had experienced offences of violence rather
than property offences. The offences selected are physical assaults,
offences involving both physical violence and property loss (robbery,
including attempted robbery and assault with intent to rob) and sexual
assaults. Victims were interviewed at different stages of the criminal
process:
as
soon
as
possible after the recording of the offence by the police;
after committal proceedings (if the case
was
committed from the magis-
trates' court to the Crown Court); after the outcome of the case; and lastly
after the result of any application or award of compensation (for those
victims involved in compensation proceedings).
The total number of victims interviewed initially was 276,
188
from
Coventry and
88
from Northampton. Of these,
198
were victims of
physical assault,
40
were victims of robberies and
38
were victims of sexual
assaults. Final interviews were obtained from
216
victims
(78
per cent of
the original sample). The fact that the sample consisted entirely of victims
whose victimization
was
reported to the police undoubtedly affected the
sample's characteristics. For instance, of the
276
victims in the sample,
169
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