Review of Victims of crime and community justice

Abstract

Reviews the book, Victims of Crime and Community Justice by Brian Williams (2005). This book begins with a broad overview of the development of victim focus in criminal justice policy in the UK, the EU and beyond. It incorporates an analysis of how community justice measures and restorative justice have responded to the need for a 'rebalancing' of criminal justice policy to take account of victims' and witnesses' needs. In this account, the author explores the notion that the line between victim and offender is not always clear-cut, and then discusses how criminal justice policy is attempting to respond to this. To balance the demonstration of challenges and problems faced in implementing restorative justice, the author provides useful examples of 'successful innovations', including family group conferences, apologies from offenders and peace committees. His accessible style makes this a useful addition for those needing to understand better how victims fit into the new community justice approaches, incorporating restorative justice and witness support. His insightful and interesting consideration of ‘hidden' victims of corporate crime and injustice and human trafficking makes this a valuable contribution to the field of victimology and a useful text for a broad audience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)