Working with Victims of Crime: Policies, Politics and Practice

by Brian Williams

Overview

There are an increasing number of organisations dedicated to supporting victims and, to a greater or lesser extent, committed to campaigning for improvements in their situation. Based on the author's experience in working with both victims and offenders, Working with Victims of Crime provides an objective analysis of developments in the field of victim support and their impact on both policy and practice. The book examines such topics as:

• who are the victims of crime what are their needs, and what rights do they and should they have?

• how professional and voluntary service providers can help recovery

• the role of the agencies involved in supporting victims

• how the criminal justice system can improve its service to victims

• why victim support has become an issue

• how the state has reacted to the growth of victim support organisations.

The book also looks at the needs and responses of victims to particular types of crime, where there is an increasing body of knowledge relating to the range of likely responses. Examples of good practice from the agencies and the views of volunteer workers on improving victim support are also included. The author goes on to explore the politics of victimisation, setting this within an international context by comparing models of policy and practice that have been adopted in other countries. Finally the book argues that current victim support could be improved with greater liaison between service providers.

Working with Victims of Crime will appeal to all with an interest in planning and providing direct services to victims, and training service providers, as well as specialists in social policy and criminology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781853024504
Publisher:	Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Publication date:	02/01/1999
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

Dr Brian Williams was Professor of Community Justice and Victimology at De Montfort University in Leicester. He served on the Executive of the British Society of Criminology and was a volunteer training officer for a local Victim Support scheme. He published widely on victims of crime, including (as editor) Reparation and Victim-Focussed Social Work.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Introduction: The Rise of Victim Support. Chapter Two: Repeated Criminal Victimisation. Chapter Three: The Needs of Victims of Crime. Chapter Four: The Politics of Victimisation. Chapter Five: Who Helps Victims? Chapter Six: The Way Forward. References. Index.

Editorial Reviews

The reader is hooked and engrossed in this unique book. It is very well written and easy to read and covers all aspects of dealing with victims of crime including the policy and the politics in today's climate. The inclusion of case histories in each section brings home to the reader the importance of this subject. The book is well referenced and includes an appendix listing the landmarks in support for victims of crime from 1963 to 1998. And it meets the need for information on dealing with victims of crime. It will be of interest to those who work in the accident and emergency field, social policy and to those who plan and provide services to victims. It will also be of use to those who provide training.

Accident and Emergency Nursing

How can victims of crime best be helped? What are their needs? What rights do they, and should they, have? A new book Working with Victims of Crime, designed to answer these three key questions, provides an excellent introduction to criminal victimisation for any interested in the policies, politics and practices of victim support. The author, Brian Williams, is Senior Research Fellow at De Montfort University, Leicester. A former probation officer, the book is based on his experience of working with both victims and offenders and builds upon previous work undertaken with Mike Kosh, Hilary Nettleton and Sandra Walklate. It also draws heavily upon interviews with staff and volunteers from Victim Support and SAMM. With the emphasis on providing objective information in an area which has become increasingly politicized in recent years, the book outlines the development of the victim's movement in the UK and elsewhere and goes on to look at some of the questions that has raised. It then addresses issues specific to particular types of crime. Topics examined also include: how profeesional and voluntary service providers can help recovery; the role of agencies involved in supporting victims; how the criminal justice system can improve its service to victims; why victim support has become an issue and how the state has reacted to the growth of victim support organisations. The book is intended for readers with an interest in social policy and criminology, as well as those specifically involved in planning and providing direct services to victims and in training those who provide such services. As for the future, Brian Williams welcomes the diversity of groups providing victim services. However, he also argues that support to victims of crime could be improved by greater liason between service providers and he warns of the danger of the different agencies involved becoming involved in fighting "turf wars". "Otherwise energy will increasingly be wasted on defending agency boundaries and competing for funding and recognition, rather than responding constructively to vicimisation," he writes.

Victim Support

This text certainly achieves the goal of not only introducing the student to the central issues relating to the victims of crime but also to encouraging an appreciation of the tensions which exist between policy and practice. The occasional use of case studies to illustrate both practical and theoretical problems is done in a very interesting and valuable fashion will appeal to practitioners and service providers.

The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice