Antony Pemberton

Heterogeneity in victim participation: A new perspective on delivering a Victim Impact Statement

A central question in the debate about victim participation in criminal justice procedures is which instrument available to victims ‘works’. The purpose of the present study was to examine which factors contribute to the likelihood of victims delivering a Victim Impact Statement (VIS). We extend previous research in two important regards. First, we examined victims’ perspectives on the purposes and function of the VIS. Consistent with previous research (for example, Roberts and Erez, 2004), we reveal a distinction between impact-related and expression-related use of VISs. However, this study adds a third component to the existing literature: the anticipation of negative consequences. Second, we examined which factors influence the likelihood of delivering a VIS and found three variables to be positively associated: posttraumatic stress symptoms, the type of crime, and the time of victimization. Against expectations, victims’ perspectives did not make a unique contribution to the model. Based on these findings, we argue that what is called for is a more heterogeneous approach to the study of procedural instruments available to victims.

Delivering a Victim Impact Statement: Emotionally effective or counter-productive?:

Although the delivery of a Victim Impact Statement (VIS) in court is assumed to contribute to the healing and recovery process of victims of violent crimes, its effectiveness to facilitate emotional recovery is widely debated. The current longitudinal study is the first to empirically examine the psychological effects of delivering a VIS in terms of the two most important emotional reactions after crime: anger and anxiety. It extends previous findings by showing that the debate concerning the effectiveness of delivering a VIS is not a ‘black and white’ matter. In this article, we argue that the question should not be whether delivering a VIS ‘works’ or ‘doesn’t work’ for the victim, but for whom, and under which conditions. We show that delivering a VIS does not give rise to direct ‘therapeutic’ effects. However, we found that feelings of anger and anxiety decrease for victims who experience more control over their recovery process and higher levels of procedural justice.

You shouldn't feel that way! Extending the emotional victim effect through the mediating role of expectancy violation

Recent research has shown that the ‘emotional victim effect’ (an emotional victim is more readily believed than a nonemotional victim) is mediated by expectancy violation: people base their judgments about a victims credibility on their expectations of the victims suffering. Victims whose behavior is inconsistent with these expectations suffer a loss of credibility. In this article, we further examine the role of expectancy violation and explore possible negative effects of a victims highly emotional post-crime reaction. Using several mediations, we demonstrate three important contributions to the existing literature. First, we demonstrate that, in the same way as expectancy violation mediates the effect from nonverbal emotional expression on perceived credibility, this mediating effect would also hold for the verbal expression of emotions. Second, we demonstrate that expectancy violation mediates the effect from a victims verbal emotional expression on the observers attitude toward the victim. More specifically, we demonstrate that a highly emotional written Victim Impact Statement (VIS) could lead to secondary victimization, dependent on the observers expectations regarding the effects of the crime. Third, this article is the first to demonstrate that expectancy violation leads to a negative effect on peoples acceptance of the VIS in the criminal justice procedure.

Procedural and interactional justice : A comparative study of victims in the Netherlands and New South Wales

Justice evaluations have become a widely studied area in the past 25 years. Such research indicates that victims have numerous legal preferences, which are in tune with the theories of procedural and interactional justice. This study examines these theories with regard to victims and the justice system from a comparative perspective including the Netherlands and New South Wales. After outlining the victim’s position in criminal justice, hierarchical regression analysis investigates several differences in perceptions of justice. Findings indicate that victims in the Netherlands perceived greater levels of process control and decision control, in addition to less improper treatment by the defence counsel. Accuracy and treatment by the police, prosecutor and judge were not significantly different between legal systems. Implications are discussed.

Needs of Victims of Terrorism

Chapter 1 showed a number of key features of terrorism that are relevant for its victims, and the previous chapter discussed the relevant international instruments relating to victims of crime and terrorism. It shows the importance of instruments directed to more general victimisation of crime for victims of terrorism. In particular we would like to stress the following points:

Narrative in the study of victimological processes in terrorism and political violence : An initial exploration

ABSTRACT Narrative is intimately connected to victimization and radicalization. Trouble, the notion that drives narrative, is often coupled with victimization: the experience of suffering intentional harm. This experience can play a turning point in the stories that radicals construct about their own lives and thus play a role in their pathway to radicalization. In this article, three main themes of narrative will be further explored in relation to victimization and radicalization: identity, emotions, and culture. Central in this article is the discussion on how narrative can contribute to theory and research into victimological processes in radicalization, while offering new means to further develop key constructs.

Al Qaeda and Vicarious Victims: Victimological Insights into Globalized Terrorism

The reactions of indirect, so-called vicarious victims to Al Qaeda’s mass victimization attacks in Western countries play an important, maybe even pivotal role in her strategy of provocation and means of organization. This is the central argument of this chapter. The organization has tried and succeeded to provoke both governments in the West, but its inhabitants as well. The success of this provocation is related to angry reactions of vicarious victims and the process of vicarious retribution Muslims living in Western countries have suffered as a consequence. In turn this has contributed to Al Qaeda’s capability to maintain a global presence, without the necessity of direct, but thereby fragile links, with all those working under its banner.

Beyond retribution, restoration and procedural justice: the Big Two of communion and agency in victims’ perspectives on justice

ABSTRACT Victims’ perspectives on justice in the aftermath of crime are a key victimological topic. The main justice concepts that have received scholarly victimological attention are retributive justice, value restoration and procedural justice. In this paper, we argue that the so-called Big Two framework – agency and communion – can further help us understand victims’ experiences with justice. Agency refers to a person striving for individuality, while communion refers to the participation of the individual in and connection with a group. According to the framework outlined in this paper, we argue that victimization by crime involves an impaired sense of agency and communion, and justice can be viewed as an attempt to repair both these dimensions. Retributive justice is a prominent means to repair agency, but other options to do so are also open to the victim. A similar observation can be made about value restoration with respect to communion. Acknowledging this can be of particular importance in cases where no offender is apprehended. As to procedural justice, the framework emphasizes the need to distinguish process participation as a means to re-establish agency from participation to re-establish communion with representatives of society.

Environmental Victims and Criminal Justice: Proceed with Caution

• Policy and advocacy: the notion of criminal justice as a means to improve the plight of victims of environmental harm: • Campaign for an international crime against the environment • Campaign for an international crime against future generations • Within the European Union: > Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law > Victims directive (EU-Directive on minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime)

Coherence in international criminal justice : A victimological perspective

This article develops a victimological perspective on international criminal justice, based on a review of the main victimological characteristics of international crimes: the complicity of government agencies, the large numbers of victims involved and the peculiar position of victims of international crimes, who at the time of the commission of the crimes are viewed as perpetrators and/or beyond the moral sphere, rather than as victims. Key elements of the framework concern the external coherence of the criminal justice reaction – the interlinking of criminal justice with other reparative efforts – as well as its internal coherence – the extent to which the procedures of international criminal justice are aligned with what it realistically can and should achieve. This latter aspect of coherence is used in an examination of victims’ rights in international criminal justice procedures.