Relationships between lawyers and victims of crime: Forming a new context
| Author | Naama Katz,Dana Pugach,Shulamit Ramon |
| Published date | 01 May 2022 |
| Date | 01 May 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0269758020920022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Review of Victimology
2022, Vol. 28(2) 141 –166
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0269758020920022
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1080176IRV0010.1177/02697580221080176International Review of VictimologyBook review
research-article2022
Article
Relationships between lawyers
and victims of crime: Forming
a new context
Naama Katz
Ono Academic College, Israel
Dana Pugach
Ono Academic College, Israel
Shulamit Ramon
University of Hertfordshire, UK
Abstract
This qualitative study offers a comprehensive overview of lawyers and clients who have been
victims of crimes as to their optimal relationship, based on interviews with both groups. The
findings clarify the existence of two main dimensions. The first emphasizes the lawyers’ values and
professional identities in response to the unique needs of victims of crimes. Lawyers who choose
to work with the victims of crimes consider themselves to be practising a kind of law that is con-
sistent with theirpersonal values. The second dimensionraises the need to create a new concept of
professionalism, to bridge the gap between what the two groups single out as important in the
relationship. The new concept indicates also the need for improved practice. The findings of this
study imply the requirement to develop social justice professionalism balanced between legal and
therapeutic skills, including the caring skills necessary for lawyers’ work with the victims of crimes.
Such improved skills will enable the legal practitioner to better balance legal representation with
emotional support based on the client’s needs rather than on the lawyer’s personal intuition.
Keywords
Lawyers, victim of crime relationship, training, communication
Corresponding author:
Naama Katz, Ono academic College, Tzahal St 104, Kiryat Ono, Israel.
Email: Naama.katz@ono.ac.il
142 International Review of Victimology 28(2)
Introduction
Constantly increasing violence throughout western society is a social problem of significant
dimension affecting all sectors of the population (Herman, 2005). A direct result of the growing
scope of this phenomenon is an ever-expanding numb er of victims of crimes, particularly of
serious crime (Esikovits and Fishman, 2002; Krug et al., 2002).
Victims of serious crime are a unique group of people. Most of them do not come into contact
with mental health services, although some may enter that system at some point. They may meet
various service providers, such as victim advocates or allied professionals, including police,
prosecutors, doctors, nurses and social workers (Neff et al., 2012; Patterson and Tringali, 2014).
Usually, the victims of crimes meet lawyers who specialize in working with this group by choice.
These lawyers are the focus of the current research, alongside the victims of crimes.
Existing research has not looked at the relationship between victims of crimes and lawyers from
the perspectives of both sides in terms of the characteristics of optimal relationships; the present
study attempts to address this lacuna. This qualitative research conducted in Israel aims to provide
an in-depth understanding of the relationships between victims of crimes and their lawyers.
Theoretical background
Understanding changes in the context of western social justice
As a result of today’s complex world, with its various social and psychological challenges, change
has come to parts of the legal systems (Winick, 2003). However, although considerable transfor-
mations have occurred, there is still a long way to go before the legal systems become the more
person-oriented institution for which social justice lawyers are aiming.
Historically, courts were considered distant and cold, limiting their attention to the specific
dispute under discussion. In contrast, modern social justice-oriented courts are more person
centred, attempting to understand and address the issues underlying the dispute while recognizing
the unique needs of the individuals concerned in order to deal effectively wi th problems and
prevent recurring court involvement (Winick, 2003). Various types of problem-solving courts –
for example, those which handle drug treatment (Hora, 2011), young people or, as in some western
countries (UK, USA, New Zealand and Australia), mental health (Bowen and Whitehead, 2015) –
have developed. Problem-solving courts specializing in particular forms of crime and adapted
settings aim to change offenders’ behaviour by emphasizing the courts’ role in making justice
fairer and more transparent (Wiener and Brank, 2014). Figure 1 presents a few of these changes,
most of which aim at offenders in an attempt to understand their needs and provide tools for their
rehabilitation (Winick, 2003).
Consequent changes in victims of crimes’ needs
By the 20th century, a criminal justice process model of professional adversary participants
prevailed, a model that marginalized victims. Dissatisfaction on the part of victims of crimes
materialized in the ‘Victims’ Movement’, that started in different places (including the US and
Israel) as an informal collection of activists and victims’ organizations, and called for the inclusion
of victims of crimes in the criminal process (Beloof, 2005).
Theoretical and empirical research developed concurrently. By the second half of the 20th
century, new approaches examined the needs of victims o f crimes and their part in the legal
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