Crime, Victims and Policy ─ International Contexts, Local Experiences

Crime, Victims and Policy brings together the work of leading international scholars to examine how the experience of victims of crime, and the formulation of policies and theory that impact upon them, are translated and experienced within specific local contexts. The collection examines questions of key concern to scholars interested in the contexts and experiences of 'victims of crime' both within and beyond criminal justice systems.

The chapters assembled here cover crucial questions, including the Eurocentric nature of conventional victimological approaches, the limitations of legal definitions of victims, the construction of victim identities, experiences of the criminal justice system, the policy making process and the 'discovery' of new victims. Importantly, a central theme of this collection is how the local contexts of postcolonial societies within the southern hemisphere both reflect and diverge from international developments in victim experience, policy and practice.

Dean Wilson is Reader in Criminology in the School of Law, Plymouth University, UK. Dean's research interests include surveillance practices and security networks, policing and victims of crime. He was the Chief Investigator on a major Australia Research Council Linkage Project with Victoria Police examining the interactions of police with victims of crime.

Stuart Ross is Senior Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include family violence, sentencing decision making, and the evaluation of criminal justice programs. His recent work includes evaluations of release transition programs, court programs and the development of an instrument for assessing risk and need in Victorian prisoners and offenders.