The Position of the Victim in Criminal Procedure — Results of a German Study
| Author | Raymond Teske,Helmut Kury,Michael Kaiser |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975809400300205 |
| Published date | 01 January 1994 |
| Date | 01 January 1994 |
International
Review
of
Victimology,
1994,
Vol.
3
pp.
69-81
0269-7580/94$10
© 1994 A B
Academic
Publishers
-Printed
in
Great
Britain
THE
POSITION
OF
THE
VICTIM
IN
CRIMINAL
PROCEDURE-
RESULTS
OF
A
GERMAN
STUDY
HELMUT
KURY,
MICHAEL
KAISER
and
RAYMOND
TESKE,
JR.
Max
Planck
/nstitut fiir Ausliindisches
und
lnternationales
Strafrecht,
D-791
00
Freiburg
im
Breisgau,
Germany
ABSTRACT
In
the
last
few
years,
the
crime
victim
has
moved
into
the
forefront
of criminological
research
and
criminal
justice
policy.
This
is
a
worldwide
development.
In
many
countries, including
the
Federal
Republic
of
Germany,
victim
protection
and
victim
compensation
laws
have
been
enacted.
The
extent
to
which
such
legal
steps
effect
an
actual
improvement
of
the
victims' situation
remains
largely
unexamined.
This
paper
presents
the
results
of a
German
research
project
which
examined
the
influence
of
the
recently
revised
German
victim
protection
law
upon
criminal
law
practice.
Judges,
prosecutors
and
lawyers
were
surveyed.
A clear
resistance
by
judges
and
prosecutors
was
discerned
relative
to
implementing
the
victim
protection
rights.
For
them,
the
victim
is
still
an
outsider
and
a 'trouble maker'
within
the
criminal
proceedings.
They
see
increased
victim
attention
as
involving
additional
trouble,
effort,
time,
and
possibly
creating
longer
delays
in
proceedings.
In
contrast,
the
attitudes
of
the
attorneys
were
more
favorable
toward
including
the
victim
in
the
criminal
justice
process.
INTRODUCTION
Until relatively recently, the crime victim has led a distinctly shadowed existence
in academic and practical discussions; this position, however, changed in the '70s
and '80s. This phenomenon is not confined within national boundaries but has
been observed internationally (Kaiser 1979; pp. 481-484; 1988; pp. 4-16).
Until the early '70s, little attention was given to the victims
of
crime. At that
time they were suddenly 'discovered' and afterwards it was unclear how their
obvious neglect had gone so long without attention and remedy (Geis, 1990; p.
255).
In the meantime, victimology has quite clearly succeeded in shifting the
emphasis in empirical criminological research to the victim (see Arnold et al.,
1988; Kaiser, 1988). State compensation for, and protection of, the victim has
been developed in many countries. In particular the creation
of
improved legal
rules and regulations concerning the victim is evidenced throughout Europe (see
Joutsen, 1987). The
'Law
concerning compensation for victims
of
violent offen-
ces (Opferentschiidigungsgesetz, OEG)', for example, came into force in the
Federal Republic
of
Germany in 1976. According to this Act, a person who 'has
suffered injury or damage
as
a result
of
a deliberate, illegal assault against him
or another person or who has suffered injury or damage because
of
his own lawful
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