Victims' Rights and Victims' Wrongs

Vera Bergelson is Professor of Law and Robert E. Knowlton Scholar at Rutgers University.

"Her thesis raises a number of interesting and important questions. . .Bergelson develops these ideas with a clear eye for a good argument, and an impressive breadth of engagement."—Christopher Bennet, Criminal Law and Philosophy "This book boldly challenges the entrenched conviction that the perpetrator's liability does not depend on the conduct of the victim. It's time we rethink this conviction, and Bergelson succeeds in providing a vision of rights that explains existing criminal law doctrines and exposes the difficulties of alternative theories."—Alon Harel, Hebrew University Law School "This is a work of breath-taking intellectual courage and honesty. In the face of a crescendo of demands to protect victims' rights, Professor Bergelson has the temerity to suggest that sometimes—and perhaps often—the criminal justice system should blame victims for the crimes they have endured. Professor Bergelson's remarkably careful, cogent, and insightful analysis probes the moral, legal, and sociological ingredients of criminal wrongdoing to make surprisingly plausible the discipline-shattering conclusion that the criminal law should exonerate wrongdoers in proportion to the blame that can be assigned to victims for the wrongs done to them." —Heidi M. Hurd, University of Illinois "Bergelson, the author of many articles on victims' rights, is well qualified to prepare this book, which calls for reform of laws dealing with criminal liability.... The arguments are cogent and easy to follow, and the book includes an excellent bibliography and a useful index."—R. A. Carp, Choice